Iconic French president Charles de Gaulle may have been right in describing the UK as being the odd-one-out in the European Union. Was he a visionary? I have always said that it would have been much better for the UK to stay in the EU and reform it from the inside. But maybe that is […]
Month: August 2019
El Mismo Sol: Ordinary Lives In Peru & The Quipu Project
You cannot expect me to be writing all year round can you? It’s time for a break. In the meantime, here’s the first of three updates concerning posts that I wrote ages ago. The two photographs will take you to the land of the Inca’s – Peru. I In 2017, a second international arrest […]
Wreckless Driving: Unequality In Front Of The Law
Actor Steven Coogan has had a six-month driving ban reduced to 2 months, after having successfully argued that it was inconceivable that his TV character Alan Partridge be seen on public transport. I have received several fines for driving above the speed limit, but never in built-up areas. There is no points system in the […]
Love At First Read – Françoise Sagan: “Bonjour Tristesse” (“Hello Sadness”)
When French author, Françoise Sagan, died in September 2004, she left behind more than one million dollars in debts and a little gem entitled “Bonjour Tristesse” (“Hello Sadness”). In his memorial statement, the then French President Jacques Chirac said of Sagan: “With her death, France loses one of its most brilliant and sensitive writers – […]
Five Minutes In The US And My English Is In Big Trouble
I didn’t spend long in the US, just past customs and a few hours between terminals, but I can tell you straight away that if I came to live there permanently, my English would quickly be in big trouble. For starters, my cute semblance of a cockneyish intonation due to my being born on the […]
“Cods Of War” – French Fishermen And No-Deal Brexit
For those of you who have been to France just for your holidays, the chances are that you really do not know what the French are like. You have probably not tasted what it is like to be caught, day after day, in the middle of a chaotic and sometimes violent mentality that is so […]
INTOLÉRANCE – El Paso & Dayton
Une coulée de sang, Un ruisseau de larmes, S’échapper de la peur des laissés pour compte, Ne plus jamais revoir, ne plus jamais aimer. La perversité d’une balle perdue, La folie d’un regard, Ce regard de colère. Dissiper tout ce qui est humain, Dissoudre toute tolérance, Les âmes démembrées de ceux qui, Tissant leurs chemins […]
Falling Out Of Love With Facebook
It has taken me just over two years to find out the limitations of Facebook for the sharing of personal viewpoints. The social media giant has become submerged with unsubtle memes, links to mainstream media news articles that have not been read before sharing, and certainly not read before being commenting on. Facebook has become […]
El Paso And Dayton
The running of blood, The shedding of tears, Escaping from the fear of those left behind, To never see again, to love no more. The evilness of a stray bullet, The madness of a look, That look of anger, Dissipating all that is human, Dissolving all that is tolerance. The dismembered souls of those, Weaving […]
MONDE – Les États-fusils d’Amérique
L’Amérique ne doit plus être un pays où tout est permis, où il n’y a pas de limites et où les valeurs morales se plient aux considérations financières et à l’influence politique. Haily Jordan, une lycéenne américaine, a défendu le libre accès aux armes à feu aux États-Unis. Son principal argument est que, […]