An elderly man, the baron of the book’s title, returns to his native Hungary from Buenos Aires. Somehow –for amongst other things this is a book about fake news– a story about the baron being exceedingly rich gathers credibility. Sean Sheehan It is said that he will generously […]
In Focus
A kind of blue, a homage to Miles
I let myself out through my garden gate, and walk into the side street, where we live. Above me, I see the bright blue sky, and the spiky, bare, branches of leaves, pointing starkly upwards. Steve Latham Looking for beauty in the centre of the city is […]
Letter to America from a working mother’s kitchen
Her habitat is her kitchen. The occupation of the narrator, a middle-aged woman, is selling cakes baked at home and her mind wanders as she prepares and mixes ingredients. Sean Sheehan “Ducks, Newburyport”, an extraordinary novel, is the window into her impromptu, often idiosyncratic reflections on the past, […]
Living time’s arrow
On TV this week, I saw an ad for some sports programmes, which said we don’t have to wait for the future, because it’s already here. Steve Latham It reminded me of cyberpunk author, William Gibson’s quip: that the future’s here, it’s just unevenly distributed. Gibson began writing […]
Brexit and immigrants: The future at risk
Despite concrete evidence to the contrary, right wings parties from all over the world always play the “immigrants are stealing our jobs” card. I witnessed a clear example of that during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Leavers based their entire campaign on immigration. Nathan Raia In 2015, Italy was […]