September 2018 Alan Bennett's home territory -- Leeds, in Yorkshire -- is not a part of England I can claim to know from personal experience. I've only made it as far north as the Midlands, reached as I wended my way northward from Worthing where I met an English friend from university and his wife for a road trip that deposited me in Birmingham from whence I returned to London. We dawdled along the way [...]
September 2018 Qatar is in a spot of bother these days since the severing last year of diplomatic ties and blockades imposed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Al-Jazeera published an article last June (here) about the situation a year on, which suggests that Qatar has powered through the difficulty only slightly worse for the wear. Other news reports that Qatar has found important partners like the United States and [...]
September 2018 Since hitting the retirement zone in 2015 I've had plenty of time to think about my deceased career. Throughout my working life I thought the workplace was largely bollocks, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Death By Cubicle I called it, because that's exactly what it seemed much of the time. Asphyxiation by administration. Perishing by protocol. Turn it any way you like, it had little to recommend itself [...]