I was planning to get back to blogging, honest, but life has been busy. But here are a few thoughts about the topic on everyone's mind; they're not likely to be better than anyone else's. Practically speaking, it makes absolutely no difference how much I express...
The following is unashamedly partisan. There is a well-known TV current affairs talk show in the US called “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Just before Christmas my esteemed publisher and fellow-author CS (Caz) Woolley drew my attention to a Youtube excerpt from it, in which...
Here I sit on Christmas Eve, and I haven't wrapped my presents yet, so I hope all will forgive me bringing back a post from December 2016, when I said: I would like to write a few words about Nahum Tate (1652-1715). The Wikipedia article on him...
Many people took up new hobbies during lockdown, eighteen months ago. One young man (real name Will Chirag, but now known to millions as Chigs) decided to take up baking. On Tuesday 23rd November, he amazingly reached the final of the Great British Bake-Off, which is...
Clearing out earlier this year, I came across my daughter’s old revision guide-books. These were produced by a company called CGP to condense the basic biology, chemistry and physics needed for her to pass Key Stage Three, and subsequently Core, Higher and Advanced science GCSE. Unlike...
Hello all. Thank you to those who liked and commented on "The Naming of City." Your comments were extremely characteristic! The book is not nearly finished, Clint. Progress is fairly steady but slow. The current title under consideration is "Naming People and Places." What do you think? In...
So - I was planning to give you a lengthy rant in the form of an anecdote. Yesterday was the Day. The day when some person or algorithm decided it was my turn to be told that my National Insurance number was about to be frozen...
How do you organise your appointments? Recently I was on the phone trying to arrange when to meet someone (isn’t this a nice new custom? Meeting people?) and I said something like “I’ll check the diary… or the calendar…” In other words, I might need to...
Dear readers I am afraid this has been a busy week, so no post. Instead I shall copy and paste this poem, which I have more or less decided to learn. What do you think? The Daniel Jazz By Vachel Lindsay Inscribed to Isadora Bennett LET the singer train the audience to...
I think it’s in “That Hideous Strength” that CS Lewis introduces a couple who share a liking for “weather” – not “good” weather, but weather in general. What sensible people, and of course they’re British. In similar vein, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s book “The Victorians” comments on...