https://www.flickr.com/photos/nat507/34808202882 I watched a man have an expensive hat put on his head today. I’m not sure why. I mean, I know why the man put the hat on: he needed to assert his supremacy over his subjects, and donning an extravagant item of headgear on television is the established way of doing it. I … Continue reading The heavy head of state
Charlie and the Great Straw-Person Parade
Roald Dahl signing books for pre-woke era children in Amsterdam in 1988. Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo/ Nationaal Archief The anti-woke brigade gained a new hero this week: the much loved and still widely read late children’s author, Roald Dahl. Triggered by a modest footnote in one of Puffin’s latest editions, the Daily Telegraph carried … Continue reading Charlie and the Great Straw-Person Parade
‘Make Russia great again’: Why Putin’s annexation speech hit its mark
As perverse as it sounds, Vladimir Putin gave a pretty good speech on Friday in proclaiming the illegal seizure of four provinces of Ukraine where his military campaign is falling apart faster than a rusty Kalashnikov. I don’t mean it was good in the sense of being eloquent, morally uplifting or intellectually stimulating. It was … Continue reading ‘Make Russia great again’: Why Putin’s annexation speech hit its mark
Over a barrel
What use is this barrel? It’s broken; the wood is cracked and rotting, the frame is speckled with rust. The bloated planks have lost their symmetry: they're weathered and weary. Why would you keep it? A decade is a long time by any reckoning. A month can go by, a year, without much changing, but … Continue reading Over a barrel
Vladimir Putin and the fiction of war
Theatre Europe (screenshot from C64 Wiki) When I was growing up there was a computer game called Theatre Europe. It allowed you to play out, from the comfort of your Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum, a 30-day campaign between Nato and the Warsaw Pact countries, and it had three possible outcomes: either one of the … Continue reading Vladimir Putin and the fiction of war
Faith in endings: how grief nearly killed my love of books
Not long ago my son said something that hit me like a sniper’s bullet: ‘You’ve got loads of books in this house but you never read them.’ I felt ashamed. While never a gluttonous reader, I always enjoyed books and usually had two or three on the go. In a typical year I’d get through … Continue reading Faith in endings: how grief nearly killed my love of books
The memory-sock
In the distant light of the hallway I grab a pair of socks from the drawer and unbundle them as I walk to the kitchen. My feet shuffle in their mocassins, still half-awake, while six feet higher up my brain decants the day. Breakfast, sandwiches, send the boys off to school, a couple of phone … Continue reading The memory-sock
The lockdown list
The pandemic was giving everybody – rich and poor, young and old – a dose of isolation. And I was a veteran of isolation. I knew things would get worse, but eventually better. I knew many people would suffer and most of their suffering would go unseen. The main thing was not to despair.
Coronavirus: one faceless killer can conceal another
At first, when the shutdown was announced, I joked that my lifestyle as a widowed parent had become fashionable. If a government minister hadn’t announced on television that the bars and restaurants were closing I'm not sure I’d have noticed. After self-isolating for years, I felt as if the world had come to me. I … Continue reading Coronavirus: one faceless killer can conceal another
Now available in Dutch
Copies of De tijd die we nog dachten te hebben on sale at Paagman in Scheveningen. The Dutch translation of All the Time We Thought We Had, with the title De tijd die we nog dachten te hebben (I like the fact that the Dutch don't capitalise book titles) has been out for a couple … Continue reading Now available in Dutch