Monthly Archives: January 2012
29 — and counting
But not pleading. On Saturday (conveniently after the daily newspaperman’s working week) the police arrested four more of the Murdoch hordes. Not just any Wapping layabouts, but the Sun‘s brightest and best: the head of news, the chief crime reporter, … Continue reading
Filed under Conservative family values, crime, David Cameron, Gordon Brown, Guardian, Independent, Murdoch, politics, sleaze., Sunday Times, Tories.
The image and the impression
This post is not, essentially, about art. Except the art of political deceit. Until he was faced with the actuality, Malcolm had not realised just how wonderful a Gustav Klimt landscape could be. And then, in Vienna, in the Belvedere, … Continue reading
The not-so-great and the not-so-good, no. 27: more Fitzroving
Swiftly on to our next specimen. Getting there may take more than a moment. This is, at first, a story of sex, power and connections, so let’s start by taking a step back. Malcolm thinks he has the family-tree fettled. … Continue reading
Filed under Australia, Britain, Homophobia, London, politics, Presbyterian, Tories.
Vesuvius’ crater for an inkstand
“Moby Dick” represents three things to Malcolm: a soul-less roadhouse of a pub on the A12, between Chadwell Heath and Romford, which — decades ago, Malcolm passed daily to and form work; the punch-line of a very unsavoury blue-ish joke, … Continue reading
Filed under Britain, fiction, films, Guardian, leisure travel, Literature, London, reading, Times, Yorkshire
In gob-smacked admiration of …
… well, the Irish Times. Malcolm is on record for his weekly indulgence in Fintan O’Toole’s A history of Ireland in 100 objects — this week we were well into the the Fourteenth Century, with the Anglo-Norman period sliding gently into … Continue reading
Filed under Dublin., Fianna Fail, films, folk music, Frank McNally, History, Ireland, Irish politics, Irish Times, Literature, Mac, Percy French, Quotations, reading
Of boobs and bums
Prepare to be offended. Is Malcolm entitled to be “conflicted” over the breast-implants saga? Since most of the “victims” are really victims of their own vanity, and some nasty selling techniques, a sneaky and unworthy voice at the back of … Continue reading
Filed under Carl Hiaasen, crime, fiction, human waste, Miami Herald, reading
The not-so-great and the not-so-good, no. 26: Anne Fitzpatrick
We haven’t had one of these in a while. With luck, two may come along in close succession. This prime specimen came under the ‘scope because of her grandson, who may well follow in this succession of oddities. She is … Continue reading
Failing the duck test
The sub-plot The story has it that, in 1950, the US Ambassador to Guatemala reckoned the (dodgily) democratically-elected government of President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was a bunch of Commies. This had absolutely nothing to do with the Árbenz régime proposing to sequester … Continue reading
Filed under History, Norfolk, Quotations, reading, Shakespeare
The Maiden City’s first time
At the back end of last week there was a bit of promising news. Malcolm got it from the Derry Journal: The Department of Environment has served an Urgent Works Notice on the owner of 20 Crawford Square, a listed … Continue reading
Filed under City of Derry, culture, History, Ireland, Northern Ireland, pubs
Smells fishy. Very.
James Forsyth, at the Spectator, speaks for the great Imperial Leather well-washed: Rarely can a government have been so pleased to have been defeated. The Tories are, privately, delighted that the Lords have voted to water down the benefit cap, removing … Continue reading
