The other day, a man was attacked by a fox just outside Tesco in Orpington, Kent. Even though the man was an imposing civil servant, the fox wasn’t put off, because it was after his shopping bags. In the end, the civil servant gave it a garlic baguette.
Recently, as part of Jewish Book Week, I went to a discussion about
religion and science. Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and atheist and
mathematician Marcus du Sautoy were the speakers.
Money, class and one overwhelming (forbidden) emotion!
On 24 March in conversation with Cathi Unsworth
Joint runner-up in Angels & Devils Poetry Competition
In Aigle, Switzerland, the Frenchman Robert Marchand recently set the cycling world hour record for riders over one hundred years old. He finished at 24.25 kilometres. This made me want to interview this man and it reminded me of The 100-year-old, a short story by the Dutch author Godfried Bomans (1913–1971).
One of the most difficult things in life is to say something meaningful
after someone has died, especially if you knew the person. Unfortunately
Paris Hilton knows everybody and announced to the world: ‘So sad to hear the news about Whitney Houston.’
We get a glimpse of Eline’s background
‘Are you collecting Muppet points?’ asked the checkout assistant at my local supermarket. ‘Well,’ I muttered, ‘Am I a man or a Muppet?’
Sergei Polunin is just twenty-one and was the youngest ever principal at the Royal Ballet. Yet this week he announced that he no longer wanted to dance for them and was resigning with immediate effect. That’s what I want to discuss this week.
I already knew two Margaret Thatchers, but recently another one has been added. Now it’s a case of three Margaret Thatchers. It’s not that they continually hit me over the head with a handbag, but they are powerful women.
Never one to miss a play on words, the Sun ran this headline during the past week: ‘I’ve been Edam fool but I’ll be Gouda from now on’, obviously referring to Dutch cheese.
You may have played party games by the Christmas tree with aunt Mathilda, but I spent the festive season with 902 family members! Well, it seemed as if I was spending my time in 902 living rooms; a fascinating spectacle.
I rather pity the Higgs boson. As far as I understand it, this particle flies back and forth like a madman but no one can see it. The most it amounts to is a spike in the ‘background noise’.
Following the talks in Brussels, the front page of The Times showed David Cameron as Manneken Pis aiming at the head of Nicolas Sarkozy, and the next day someone remarked to me that Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel reminded her of Punch and Judy.
Last week I read somewhere that Pippa Middleton is having an identity crisis. Apparently she is finding it difficult to accept that people think of her as ‘Kate’s sister’.
I was twelve years old when I attended my first and only live football match. The football club NEC was playing against the mighty Ajax in my home town of Nijmegen.
Looking forward to something is often better than the event itself. Take skating: it looks very enjoyable when watching it on TV. When you actually stand on the thin blades, you immediately feel the strain on your ankles. After a couple of laps you can no longer feel your legs from the knee down. Skating on natural ice also induces the first stages of frostbite.
