She was, I think, the subject of Rankin’s thesis.

Admittedly years apart, but Rankin and my Dad went to the same High School – Beath High. It’s a school with a hell of a pedigree, including one Nobel prize winner.

The scene in Godfather 2 where she tells Pacino that she’d had an abortion might be the best scene of 70s cinema

September/early October has been an interesting month. Watching has been largely Australia-specific stuff that I will have trouble accessing in the States – Last Cab to Darwin, Jack Irish, Mystery Road. I’m […]

The NY Times Wirecutter is not very pro the Air

It’s close to “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy” in its banality

I refer the Hon Gen to my prescient earlier Brookmyre comment

I rather suspect that getting into Oxford in the 50s from Cumbria, the son of a pub keeper, suggests he’s not short in the intellectual deparrtment. And I loved his book on the history of English

It also has some great literature and writing about it in a way that other sports haven’t. George Will, a conservative columnist of the old school, with whom I’m not sure I agree a great deal, wrote beautifully […]

It won’t happen, but Matt Lewis who hosts “The Medieavalists” would be great. He did an episode about the formation of the English state and laws under the Plantagenets, and it was a masterclass in how to […]

“There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was”

recent Facebook post of mine: Call from Number Withheld. Apparently calling from the Hospital. They’ve changed their computer systems and need to confirm my file details. “You’re calling from a withh […]

There has been suggestion that the appointment happened because as an Epstein confidant, he knew about as much information as might make Trump uncomfortable. A mild form of Kompromat

Tossing foxes

Never had cats. Dogs for me. Our dog isn’t needy. She likes a walk, and she loves her meals. Apart from that, she sits on her chairs, except later in the afternoon or evening when she sits on the sofa and […]

I’ve been lucky to see him a few times – Big Band with Emmy Lou, and then smaller shows when it was just LL and Robert Earl Keen, and then John Hiatt. I knew ahead of time that we were going as much for the […]

1. First Concert – it was either Bryan Adams or Jethro Tull in Brighton in 1987 2. Last Concert – OMD, Adelaide Entertainment Centre 3. Worst Concert – the only one I left early was Squeeze at the Kennedy […]

The dog gets at least 0.5 mile a day – she’s getting on a bit, so she dictates the length of the walk. I do 1.5 miles on my own. Gym 2 – 3 times a week, one heavy session, one mid session. Gym session also […]

I don’t think we need to kill half the pensioners – but I do wonder if we have to revisit the question of prolonging life at all costs, and just how much in the way of resources that commands? Money, people, […]