The garden of innocence

I spent a large portion of my childhood growing up in the Home Counties. And it’s where my family still live, in a village satisfied with not one, but two different names. It’s that kind of place. So this weekend, when all the cool kids were on the streets of Notting Hill eating jerk chicken [...]

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Yours, disgusted of Islington

There have been the usual nightmares on the tube over the past few days. The once reliable Victoria Line lately seems completely unable to operate without some form of signal failure or other; the problem being compounded by weekday early closing and occasional shutdown of parts of the line at weekends, apparently to facilitate the testing [...]

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There’s no place like Liars’ League

It’s the second Tuesday of the month, and so that can only mean it’s time for another gathering of the finest short-story writing talent that London, nay, the country, nay again because we get submissions from across the globe, the world, has to offer. Fittingly enough for such a cosmopolitan event, tonight’s theme is Home [...]

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Open wide

I’m feeling slightly guilty about Flickr. I’m a big fan, but have recently deserted it somewhat for the sly charms of facebook. Which is as much of an apology as it is a confession – I held out against the ‘book for the longest time, but now, as is generally the way with these things, [...]

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We’ll meet again

So I’ve been thinking about the Cold War a lot lately. Perhaps that’s because of the recent spate of diplomatic expulsions and now, Russia’s surreal sub-aquatic landgrabs, perhaps it’s down to a number of movies I’ve seen lately – The Good Shepherd, The Good German, and, for good measure, Good Night and Good Luck spring [...]

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