Changeling – Clint Eastwood
Cinema, film is a collaborative art. If the director has the integrating artistic conception of the film, he still has to assemble his realisation of that ‘vision’ through the many critical disciplines, each an art in its own right, that provide the warp and weft of the finished film. It is easy [...]

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Before It Is Too Late
It’s too late for me
now they’ve gone away
but not for you
for the present
I am here and here I’ll stay
Who they were
I never really knew
their love was all I needed
and I just took it all
as selfishly I grew
I only ever guessed
what made them laugh and cry
what hopes and dreams they shed
what aspirations [...]

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Out of Time - Short Story
Even without Anne, New York was still great; I went to all the places we saw for the first time together. Much loved, shared movies ghosted through the tramline streets, avenued by ranks of giant glass and concrete trees. It was ten years since we were there; 5 since she [...]

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(I see little to change in this essay writen in 2005. However we may hope that getting rid of the worst President in American history and the election of Barck Obama may have changed the political/intellectual environment enough for the complexity of the issues to be better understood and therefore that some coherent efforts might [...]

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Strictly Come Dancing – Saturday 22nd November
The tension – unbearable. The competition – fierce. We were all, well some more than others perhaps, on the edge of our seats from the opening seconds of this week’s Strictly: which would triumph, how would the intense conflict be resolved? Yes of course I speak of the heroic [...]

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Thought Snippets
God came to me in a dream
I dreamed God came to me
Language of commitment
Language as commitment
Reading the words
Reading the sense
Following a rule
Being guided by a rule
Believing you know
Knowing you believe
Saying what you mean
Meaning what you say
The pursuit of happiness
Finding happiness
I believe, help Thou mine unbelief
I know…I need no help
I know I’m a bad tennis [...]

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Out of mind - out of insight
If you are infected with the disease of philosophy and find this stuff interesting, the book that best explores these ideas in depth is The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy - Peter Winch ISBN 0-415-05431-1. Old - but still in print.
Discussions of mind/body issues [...]

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“Fox-trot leader to Tango Charlie……….”
Strictly Come Dancing – the furore
So the Eddie The Eagle of dance has crashed and burned. Samurai Sergeant has chosen dancing death with honour, rather than fall into the hands of his increasing legion of enemies. And there is no more potent enemy than the fickle British public who with the [...]

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Britishness
The British are not ethnic
we’re the mongrels of the world
an antidote to racism harbingers of hope
we give the living lie
to the hateful myth of blood
What we are is mingled, muddled, mixed
conquered by the Romans
yet inspired by the Greeks
we are passionate moderation
hating all extremes
of race of politics and faith
We long to be well led
but hate all [...]

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THE CHERRY TREE
“Excuse me, but do you know this garden well?”  The old man returned the clear, open, gaze of the brown-eyed girl.
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“I was curious about one of the trees.”
“Which one?”
“The cherry tree over there in the corner, by the wall.”
“What interests you about that tree in particular?”
“Why is it up [...]

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