A tsunami of outrage

15 Nov

A day and a half after we knew Trump had won, I emailed friends on both sides of the Atlantic with this heavily edited version of an open letter by Thomas Harrington, Professor of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut. … Read More »

Red Poppies in Moffat

13 Nov

Remembrance Day in Moffat. To paraphrase Putin’s comment on the Soviet Union: anyone who fails to see that Britain’s wars – from WW1 to Syria – have been created by and/or pursued in the interests of Profit has no understanding. … Read More »

Sincerely, L. Cohen

12 Nov

See also, Ten Old Songs .. In a year marked by the bowing out of unusual talent, Leonard Cohen’s death is for me the most poignant. In January I wrote a post on David Bowie in a couple of hours, … Read More »

So now we know

9 Nov

I went to bed last night knowing, as I have for months, that the next POTUS will be appalling. Now we know which brand of appalling. Now we look set to see the Racist Demagogue in the Oval Office rather … Read More »

I’ll take seriously …

5 Nov

… those who say she is the lesser evil since he is misogynist when they look me in the eye to tell me millions of women, their lives disproportionately blighted by her warmongering, aren’t relevant to that debate. Ditto the … Read More »

Who’s this?

4 Nov

See Joe Clifford’s piece in Off-Guardian today … She backed the war that laid Iraq to waste to the enrichment of Wall Street, the huge US arms industry and senior politicians. She backed the military overthrow of the elected government … Read More »

Old Delhi

16 Oct

Within hours of finding a seedy hotel on Paharganj, Friday morning at six-thirty after eleven hours by sleeper bus from Pushkar, I knew my biggest mistake of this trip was not allowing more time in Delhi. A couple of hours … Read More »

Dussehra in pictures

12 Oct

You’ve probably heard of Holi and Diwali, but Dussehra may have slipped under your radar. It’s a seriously big deal though in the Hindu lunar calendar. The God Rama defeats the odious King Ravana, the event marked by noisy days and noisier nights of … Read More »