In Istanbul where an April spring has turned to winter, with temperatures below zero but toasty warn compared to the sight of my savings and pension etc. I picked the wrong year to become interested in my finances, it was far more freeing to have none. I recently re-read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s […]
Peculiar
A peculiar misdirected email arrived just as I clicked on ‘publish’ – an email in German from a left-of-centre Swiss political party inviting me to join it to discuss how Switzerland can stand up against a Trumpian/ Muskian world order.
He’s back
So Trump is back. After being uncertain for several weeks, yesterday I decided that Kamala Harris would win and that it would not actually be that close. The best result, I thought, would be if Kamala Harris won the presidency easily, but lost Michigan due to the Muslim vote, and this served as a wakeup […]
Shocked
A little shocked to see this item for sale on the website of an LA design studio. Aside from the weirdness of referring to the ‘Assamese people’ in this fashion surely these could not have cost more than $50, if that, to produce. Assuming there is no more to say about the blanket than what […]
Miss Wisk
I’m reading Bleak House these days, feeling that my Dickens knowledge is lacking. I can’t say I’m loving it, but I can respect it and it is certainly very funny. I was surprised to come across Miss Wisk the feminist, and learned of JS Mill’s extreme disapproval of how she’s presented in the book. I […]
Double-bind
It’s the familiar double-bind. On ordinary days, working days, I feel like there is not much to write about, and I want to get off my computer anyway. On interesting days, like the days when I was travelling through Central Asia, there is so much to do and absorb that I can’t stop to write […]
Various developments
The Israel strike on Iran was wiped from my mind this morning by a more immediate development, that of the dishwasher repairman coming and fixing the dangling door panel, though he has to get a part to replace the broken spring that causes the door to fall open (and dislodged the door panel in the […]
An upset, of sorts
I spoke to someone back in Pakistan today, and they told me that they voted PTI out of protest – not because they supported it, not because they admired Handsome, but simply out of a sense of fairness and because they wanted to say ‘no’ to those behind the scenes. A thought process that many, […]
The day before
The day before the election, telling that this is one of the featured stories on the Dawn website: This morning I spoke to someone in Pakistan who was in a chatty mood, clearly a little excited by the election. He asked me whom I would vote for, I told the truth that in Pakistani elections […]
Worries
This Hamas Israel business is really worrisome. Also, unusually, personally worrisome as we have many synagogues and a Muslim Brotherhood settlement within a few minutes of our front door. But I really don’t know what will happen, and it is terrifying politically and in terms of human suffering.