Bad spelling and the trouble with truth…

John Dryden (1631-1700), England’s first poet laureate said, “Truth is the foundation of all knowledge, and the cement of all societies.” John Lloyd, an author and contributing editor to the Financial Times writing in the Summer 2020 edition of Index on Censorship, said, A search for the facts which govern our lives has always meant … Continue reading Bad spelling and the trouble with truth… →

10 things the pandemic makes you nostalgic for…

...pictures of old radios, valve sets, transistors radios and even more. I'll come to them in a moment, but first consider this. There's something compelling about taking refuge in the past, especially when memories can appear to offer more emotional comfort than the often alarming and worrying news headlines of the present day. I'm writing … Continue reading 10 things the pandemic makes you nostalgic for… →

10 things we did in the 2020 lockdown…

This article was written on Wednesday 1st July 2020. The COVID-19 lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic started in Britain on 23 March. The country had (mostly) sheltered in place for the whole of springtime before beginning to emerge in late June. During those weeks and months we'd welcomed delivery drivers at the front door … Continue reading 10 things we did in the 2020 lockdown… →

Emerging into the world…

This article was published on Monday 15 June 2020, the day when some non-essential shops started to re-open in England, and when social distancing rules were being slowly changed. It was, in a word, a tentative British déconfinement. Say it with a French accent as befits the Gallic source of such an evocative word. The … Continue reading Emerging into the world… →

Listening to the experts…

This article was written on Tuesday 26 May 2020. The COVID-19 lockdown caused by the Coronavirus pandemic started in Britain on 23 March. The country had, at the time of writing this, been sheltering in place (more or less, give or take a few individuals) for ten weeks. During this period your correspondent had put … Continue reading Listening to the experts… →

Movies and radio memories…

There is a connection. Honestly. Do please bear with me. This article was written on Wednesday 29th April 2020, in the sixth week of the Covid-19 confinement for Britain. Easter had come and gone. The dry warm-ish spring weather had continued and by and large the nation had heeded the Governments instructions to “stay home, … Continue reading Movies and radio memories… →

These are extraordinary times…

This article was originally written on Monday 30th March 2020, seven days after the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told the country to stay at home. https://youtu.be/Ml-1hUISPj8 We live in exceptional times. A fact noted by many journalists in recent days. In The Times of London, in the Daily Telegraph, and on Channel 4's Dispatches … Continue reading These are extraordinary times… →