Nouveau Pauvres

As we bumble Brexit-wards I worry about my friends with properties in France. How will they manage? We must look to history for guidance.

Published
Categorised as Charities

Box of Delights

In Salad Days a magic piano is entrusted  to Jane and Timothy by a passing tramp. Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from his cousin Bilbo and is told by Gandalf to take care of it. For Bertie Wooster in The Code of the Woosters the MacGuffin is an 18th century silver cow-creamer. It is an… Continue reading Box of Delights

Panda Power

I want to ponder the geopolitical ambitions of Russia and China, how they differ from each other and how effective they are.

Published
Categorised as Politics

New Tricks

My train journey to Suffolk on Wednesday morning was a conspicuous success. Hitherto I took the tube to overcrowded Liverpool Street and caught the train. This time I did it differently.

Dancer

As Howards End is being shown on TV “only connect” is fresh in my mind. On Monday there were some unexpected connections.

Dread Chaos and Eternal Night

Disruption is a word that only has negative connotations for me and I  expect digital disruption to be the prelude to war. Apparently now it means improvement. I snapped the sign above in Victoria this month.

Elizabeth Bowen

My goddaughter, Sophia, was at Downe House. She was confirmed by the then Bishop of Oxford who delivered such a good sermon that I remembered every word when he repeated it at a subsequent Confirmation.

Published
Categorised as Literature

Lucia

I went to Fulham Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor on Friday night and was bowled over by the singing and, to a lesser extent, the production.

Published
Categorised as Music

School Dinners

I’m not one for school reunions. At least ten years ago there was a drinks party in London for all the boys in “my” year at Eton. It was excruciating as the few I recognised I wasn’t especially keen on and otherwise it was a sea of strange faces. I ended up talking to the… Continue reading School Dinners

Swiss Role

The Honourable Artillery Company takes pride in being the oldest regiment in the British Army, founded by Henry VIII in 1537. It is irksome for the HAC that Pope Julius II founded the Pontifical Swiss Guard in 1506.