Tax Matters

Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year in which a nation as a whole has theoretically earned enough income to pay its taxes. (Wiki) In the US in 2015 it was 24th April. Not so good in the UK: 3rd June in 2016. The Adam Smith Institute does the sums in the… Continue reading Tax Matters

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Categorised as Business

George Sims

This morning, if it’s morning for you – I notice that blog readers do it in the morning. I do because I read blogs too and I read them in the morning. A lot of bloggers have a “blog roll” on their website with the blogs they read. I don’t, mostly because I don’t have… Continue reading George Sims

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Categorised as Literature

Matinee Idle

I have never felt moved to reinvent myself but I greatly admire those who have – prime example, Plácido Domingo.

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Categorised as Music

Breaking the Rules

Jeff Goldblum and Kevin Spacey in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow at The Old Vic were stupendous. Mamet’s plays and films are sensational.  So it was a no-brainier to go to Glengarry Glen Ross in the West End.

ATM

I make no apology for contradicting myself. If you are a newish reader you won’t even know but the fact of the matter is that I wouldn’t see Sully (about the ‘plane ditching in the Hudson River), although now I wish I had. I wouldn’t see it because I knew the story. I did see… Continue reading ATM

River Ramble

This week I filled a lacuna in my tramps along the Thames. Hitherto I’d never walked between Hammersmith Bridge and Putney Bridge on the South bank.

Inscriptions

The connection between Bloemfontein, the RAF and Hammersmith Bridge may elude you. If you walk across the bridge on the upstream side you will find the answer.

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Categorised as History

The Ginger Man

“When you don’t have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it’s sex. When you have both it’s health.” That’s from The Ginger Man by JP Donleavy. He served in the US navy in WWII and jumped ship to go to Trinity College Dublin in 1946. Like Evelyn Waugh he didn’t get… Continue reading The Ginger Man

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Categorised as Family

Fulham Reach

Fulham Reach is the fancy name for the new blocks of flats on the river downstream from the Riverside Studios. I admire their winter garden but notice these new developments only take a lot of trouble over their appearance until the last flat is sold.

Green Flag Day

We (Friends of Margravine Cemetery) are proud of our slightly faded Green Flag fluttering aloft proudly showing we have won a Green Flag Award. To be fair they dish a lot of these out and not just in London but all over the world.