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Tag Archives: Americans

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. Few of those who know and admire the camellia, that waxlike and pure flower, are aware that the parent plant, the origin of the million plants scattered throughout Europe, is still alive and is in Italy. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 22 1907 . The Taliban now control more territory in Afghanistan than they did […]

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. Miss Mary Elsen, of Chicago, is suing Dr. Charles Weser, a local doctor, for 60 breaches of promise during a four years’ courtship. — The Nelson Evening Mail, June 22 1912 . Soldiers are quite fond of children. Chopsticks are the reason the Chinese never invented custard. The senior members of the House of Commons are not […]

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. There are more fragrant white flowers than of any other colour. — The Nelson Evening Mail, July 13 1908 . The inhabitants of Ipswich are the least passionate in the UK, having sex on average only 18 times per annum. Gazelles are quite amenable to snuff. Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich was a fully-trained football referee and […]

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. A lady of limited means residing in the country says that her garden clothes herself and her daughter. — The Nelson Evening Mail, August 31 1906 . There is a typo in Punjabi birth certificates. Since January 2013, a Russian cruise ship has been drifting unmanned in the North Atlantic. Toxic trolls are pushing Vicky […]

Heroes in error

Review of War Porn. — For The Spectator

Our foreign colleagues

Review of Tell Spring Not to Come This Year. — For The Spectator

Blessed are the speechmakers?

A back-handed tribute to President William Henry Harrison. — For The Spectator

theASHtray, vol.10

Featuring news and views on the espionage du jour, Peter Taylor, Homeland, Spooks, Rubicon, Tinker Tailor…, Ben Macintyre, Americans, Russians, the Chinese, Rwandans, Charlie Dutton Gallery, TASCHEN, FUSE magazine, typographics, computers, Garamond, rubber bands, Marshal McLuhan, Akira The Don, Pink Floyd, ABBA, YouTube, and lollies. — For theartsdesk

theASHtray, vol.9

Read, watch and listen: climate-change, Maldivian politics, Jon Shenk, Mohammed Nasheed, Radiohead, Start the Week, Anne McElvoy, Geoff Dyer, Paul Farley, Andrei Tarkovsky, Tristram Shandy, Werner Herzog, Liz Mermin, large hadron colliders, Scott Waugh, Mouse McCoy, Act of Valor, Navy Seals, John McCain, Facebook, blockbusters, Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, pianos, Clementi, Mozart, Telemann, and […]

After Wood (after Sebald)

… and it was here, while re-reading an article by the American critic James Wood on the oneiric nature of the writings of ‘Max’ Sebald, that I found myself impressed more and more by the feeling that it was in fact Wood himself who had at least once previously caused me to look up the […]