A Golden Goose

North Sea oil, not much left and we don’t even have a Sovereign Wealth Fund to show for it. Up to a point, Lord Copper.

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Categorised as Business

St Matthew Passion

If you are at a loose end in London this coming Sunday evening this performance of JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion might appeal. There is no charge but there will be a retiring collection to recover some production costs.  

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Categorised as Music

Charing Cross

Oh dear, my local Council (Labour) seems to have been caught with its pants on fire. 

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Categorised as Politics

Dolce Vita Confidential

The title of this new book by Shawn Levy continues “Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome”. La Dolce Vita, as you will not need reminding, is Federico Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece.

Perfidious

You read “perfidious” and append Albion. Yup, there’s been plenty of dirty work at the crossroads but the UK does not have a monopoly in this department.

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Categorised as History

Consultations

Like Sherlock Holmes I am often consulted. These consultations take many forms.

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Categorised as Politics

Nesselrode Pie

A theme of the Lyttelton/Hart-Davis letters is R H-D’s prodigious appetite for reading and eating. Not surprisingly, he is writing around 1960, the best meals are abroad.

Sentebale

I only glance at a restaurant bill but when I glanced at this one I didn’t recognise the £1 charge for Sentebale. It’s not the money, as people say when it is the money, it was curiosity.

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Categorised as Charities

The Long View

As Article 50 is triggered many of us take a long view. On BBC Radio 4 The Long View makes a comparison with the overtures made by Elizabeth I to Turkey, Asia and North Africa to open trade routes. You can hear it on iPlayer so it would be otiose to go on about that.

Tahiti

In 2008 I saw a double bill in Trieste but first a bit about the city. It has one of the finest squares in Europe, one side of which opens onto the Adriatic. The architecture reflects the history of the city as the main port for the Austro-Hungarian empire. In its heyday it was the… Continue reading Tahiti

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Categorised as Music