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Ridley Road, Paris 1900, Paul Verhoeven revisited & The Directors

Ridley Road  finished last Sunday and by and large I was impressed. Without in any way denigrating the Black cause that has suffered such discrimination in my lifetime it’s good that in the anti-racism platform the BBC gives expression to anti-semitism too. Ridley Road was set in 1962 when [...]

October 27, 2021 // 0 Comments

Poor Solskjaer

Whisper it softly but I feel sorry for the under-pressure Manchester United boss. I’m no particular fan of the Reds – and indeed rather enjoy seeing a club big on triumphalism in the past – now in crisis. So why this sudden shift of sympathy? Firstly, it’s one of the least edifying [...]

October 26, 2021 // 0 Comments

My art week

No exhibitions nor art on telly this week but two fascinating lessons in our art course. In the first – on British art and visual culture 1950 to the present – we studied David Hockney and Francis Bacon. Hockney, though it was not compulsory, studied line at Bradford Art College and [...]

October 23, 2021 // 0 Comments

The face of things to come

Call me an old-fashioned, out of touch, curmudgeon if you will – as a Ruster, I guess it comes with the territory – but sometimes the antics of politicians the world over drive me to distraction. Three articles featuring on the website of the Daily Mail overnight struck me as highlighting [...]

October 20, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Forgotten Battle (2020)

I worked up a full head of steam recently with a feminist film critic I met at the San Sebastián film festival over Paul Verhoven, the Dutch director of Basic Instinct.  She had him down as a subversive, sexually exploitative, cineaste who was now out of date. I pointed out that his earlier films [...]

October 19, 2021 // 0 Comments

A visit and then a disagreement

A couple of days ago, three weeks into the occupation of our new house on the south coast, we received our first (semi-formal) visit from friends rather than family. In typing “(semi-formal)” and “friends” in the above context I was referring obliquely to the fact that, having never [...]

October 17, 2021 // 0 Comments

The Tanner Report: Fulham 4 QPR 1

I’m preparing this report with one eye on Brentford v Chelsea. Time was when the West London bragging rights were contested by QPR and Chelsea and in the last 20 years Fulham and Chelsea yet never Brentford but – fair play to the Bees – they deserved promotion and have started well in [...]

October 16, 2021 // 0 Comments

My art week

Although I did not visit any exhibitions or museums this week it was a full art week. In our art course we covered Jasper Johns and his partner Robert Rauschenberg and across the Atlantic pop art. Consumerism was still the key driver. I had one of those serendipity moments on switching on Sky Arts [...]

October 15, 2021 // 0 Comments

Thoughts on the Ashes tour

Much of the coverage to date has been speculation as to whether the tour takes place and concern that the selected party is bereft of a bowling attack with hostile pace. There had been less attention to the absence of a threatening spinner. It was always likely the tour would happen as the [...]

October 14, 2021 // 0 Comments

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