January 2011
7 posts
Reading the 1983 Tory election manifesto recently, as one does, I found some interesting things.
One curious point is how often it supports the goal of nuclear disarmament - an ideal that DC probably wouldn’t go near these days. Not sure if that’s because the world’s changed or the Tory party’s changed. Although, when he was wooing Nick Clegg via the medium of rolling...
Please please please read Iain Sinclair’s article about the Boris bikes in the LRB. (If you could also read everything else on the LRB site, subscribe to it, get a ‘Devoted LRB reader’ tattoo (it need only be a small one), I’d really appreciate it). It’s a beautiful kind of exploration, journey-type-thingy into the history of bicycles, before morphing into a detailed...
Fallen Majesty Although crowds gathered once if she but showed her face, And even old men’s eyes grew dim, this hand alone, Some last courtier at a gypsy camping place, Babbling of fallen majesty, records what’s gone.
The lineaments, a heart that laughter has made sweet, These, these remain, but I record what’s gone. A crowd will gather, and not know it walks the very...
Hitch-22
I’ve spent an inordinate amount of my leisure time watching clips of Christopher Hitchens on YouTube, and I dont consider this time to have been altogether wasted. He’s incredibly articulate and well-read, and I usually disagree with stuff he’s saying. Those are all beneficial things to expose yourself to.
Anyway, just finished his memoirs, which is really chunky (both...
Simon Munnery
This blog was somewhat neglected over the festive period and, sadly I cannot blame overindulgence and long-term hangoverosity for this lapse. I was laid low by a pretty severe flu. It came on around Christmas Eve’s Eve, and I started to feel better on January 2nd. In short, the illness straddled/ruined the entire holiday period. Annoying.
Not sure if it was the swine, but...
