Bill Bryson offers an idiosyncratic snapshot of America as the workshop of the world, the most powerful nation on earth that had a good 1 st World War—with most other countries, debtor nation—that produced tax surpluses that largely benefited President Warden G. Harding and his wealthy cronies with shades of the moron’s moron Trump. Bryson wasn’t to know this having written the book before the rise of bankrupt rapist, serial liar, tax dodger,...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Snowman-Michael-Fassbender/dp/B076B8B7WV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=F1X4A7U9WGE3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WJNn2zh9V6W1SdedKlH3zw.4bmtaqlSLVGsIzX7tcNDdo8_MX0AYgumz_qblIA8oZQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+snowman+michael+fassbender&qid=1716581776&s=instant-video&sprefix=the+snowman%2Cinstant-video%2C81&sr=1-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Snowman_(2017_film) I was a big fan of Wallander on BBC4. I watched every...

Firstly some rather sombre news. Yesterday we had to cancel the account of someone who continued to post AI assisted writing despite numerous warnings. We rarely ban users and it’s always a sad moment for us so if you’re thinking of trying AI please remember that this is an AI free site and it will result in you losing your account. We do check things very carefully and all the editors are consulted before such a decision is made. On a brighter...

When I was a kid, late sixties and early seventies, most of us watched the same programmes on telly . Jackanory when we were younger. Then Blue Peter . These were the kind of programmes parents would have approved. Educational and entertainment. It was part of the remit of BBC to provide for both. STV, later ITV, had Magpie . It tried to mimic Blue Peter , with the catchy tag: ‘Why Don’t You Go Outside and Do Something Far More Interesting...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Carter Angela Carter died at the relatively young age of 51 in 1992. I’ve been digging up her legacy. I started with Night at the Circus . Life is wonderful and horrific. And if you scratch the surface, magic happens. Heroes are heroines. As they are in the Bloody Chamber. I didn’t find out until later it was meant to be a retelling of The Bluebeard Story. Carter’s heroines are innocents abroad, crossing the...

Clouds Sand Foam The once invisible clouds now materialize. On, to a pristine deep blue sky now encroaching and threatening cloud sand floaters, imprint in consciousness with a mood that. Such omnipresence seems to move in slow motion. She reappears visibly as once seen to the unseen. Caught in a glimpse, then fades with attention, aimlessly taking new shapes and foams. How these clouds float with water in them, behind the half-quarter moon. At...

Recently, I said to Teresa that I had to keep correcting myself. It was no longer Jimmy and Teresa—Jimmy had died at the end of June 2023—it was just Teresa. A flicker of a smile, but she was quick to correct me. ‘It’ll always be Jimmy and Teresa,’ she said. ‘Always.’ I guess it is again. She’s buoyed herself up during his long illness. In and out of the chemists. Up and down Singers Road carrying messages. She’d carried him to the end. With...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m001ys7b/dopesick?seriesId=m001ys7c I already knew the story of the Sackler family, having read and reviewed Patrick Reeden Keefe (2021) Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Family. https://odonnellgrunting.wordpress.com/2021/12/31/patrick-radden-keefe-2021-empire-of-pain-the-secret-history-of-the-sackler-dynasty/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackler_family Greed has consequences. This eight-...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001pvtv/the-power-of-the-dog https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_the_Dog_(film) Jane Campion is a Hollywood name. She might not have the leverage of say Brad Pitt or George Clooney, but mostly, when she wants to make a movie, producers find the finance and it gets made. The Power of the Dog won many plaudits on its release. I found it watchable. The sets were fabulous and everything looked and...

Can you aspire to 'coolness' at nearly 70?