Monthly Archives: August 2013

Syria: second thoughts

Posted on August 31, 2013 by

Ten years ago I thought invading Iraq was absolutely the right thing to do. (I’d even read Kenneth Pollack’s book twice.) Now I tend to pay more attention to articles like this one from Conor Friedersdorf. The headline says it … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized

Frenchman in Manhattan

Posted on August 28, 2013 by

Vintage Serge, from before the world invented world music.  SG expert Darran Anderson posted another version of this song on his Twitter feed yesterday. To see where the African drums came from, click here.

Posted in Uncategorized

Notebook

Posted on August 27, 2013 by

She knew little of international politics and by her own admission did not appreciate the gravity of what was occurring in Germany…. As a student at the University of Chicago she had experienced “a subtle and undercurrent propaganda among the … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook, World War 2

British Summer Time

Posted on August 26, 2013 by

Bank Holiday weekend bike ride. By the Thames, towards Cockmarsh.

Posted in Photography

Classic

Posted on August 25, 2013 by

I reviewed Natalie Cole’s Spanish-language album,”En Español”, in the Sunday Times [£]. Not the kind of record that will appeal to world music purists, of course, but a respectable effort all the same. Her version of “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás” is … Continue reading →

Posted in Music

Notebook

Posted on August 24, 2013 by

Serber also remembers taking part in a plan, devised by Oppenheimer and army security, to spread false rumours about what was happening at the Mesa… “We propose,” Oppenheimer wrote, “that it be let known that the Los Alamos Project is … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook, World War 2

Apple Store, Oxford Circus

Posted on August 11, 2013 by

Or The Temple of Apple, as I like to call it.  A reverential hush, precious icons fondled by true believers… and a Genius Bar too.

Posted in Uncategorized

Trinidad via Toronto

Posted on August 11, 2013 by

From my feature on neo-calypsonians Kobo Town in today’s Sunday Times [paywalled]: ‘No song composed outside Trinidad is a calypso.” So said the island’s most famous son, VS Naipaul — something of a connoisseur — in an essay written half … Continue reading →

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Messing about in boats

Posted on August 3, 2013 by

On the Thames near Cliveden, this morning.

Posted in Uncategorized

Notebook

Posted on August 2, 2013 by

In his early thirties, Peuchet had been elected as a representative of the Commune of Paris but had grown disgusted with the violence of the mob. He became a secret royalist overnight. By posing as a blood-red revolutionary, he secured … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Notebook