Tag Archives: #europe
The Full English.
I am in the restaurant of a golf club in Sussex. It is Sunday morning. And the waiter, as it happens, is from Poznan. I tell him that the soot on the buildings there always used to remind me of … Continue reading
Send In The Clowns.
I once had the honour of working with the British actor and satirist Peter Cook. I was an advertising copywriter in London then and I was recording a radio spot for Network SouthEast, a part of the then still publicly … Continue reading
A Tale Of Three Cities.
There’s a joke told about the British in Brussels. Actually there’s a few but this one’s my favourite: ‘How can you tell when the Eurostar from London has arrived… ? They turn the engines off and it still keeps whining.” … Continue reading
Mayday Mayday Mayday.
‘What are you sinking about… ?’ When he first suggested Mayday as the internationally recognised signal for a life threatening emergency Frederick Stanley Mockford was thinking about the French. He was an air traffic controller at Croydon Aerodrome. It was … Continue reading
Night Mail (With Apologies To W. H. Auden).
This is the night mail crossing the border, Sowing the seeds of a different order, Stirring passions on left and right, To their hopes and fears Godspeed tonight. Dreams of justice stir their cause, Or of English votes for English … Continue reading
A Farage Made In Heaven (Fanfare For The Common Man).
Inspired by conversations with Patrick Hanson Lowe and Nick Schon. Illustration by Nick Schon. On Thursday President Obama told journalists in Brussels that the US “has a deep interest in ensuring that the UK remains united… “ We’re getting used to … Continue reading
Many Mansions.
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you: John 14:2 (KJV) My father was born in 1920. In the first sixty-five years of his life he visited what his generation knew … Continue reading
The Mansion On The Hill
My apologies. It’s been a while I know, but I’ve been a bit busy lately. And, if you choose to work as what the Belgians call an ‘independent’, when busy rings the bell you let it in. This week I … Continue reading
