Today I was struck by three acorns! Nature has a peculiar way of tapping us on the head when she wants to remind us of something. If it were a meteor, we’d call it apocalyptic. If it were a coin, we’d call it providence. But an acorn - that comic nut of destiny - is … Continue reading From Knock to Knell: An Autumnal Double Act
Tag: Life
The Privy as Polis: Sir John Harington’s Metamorphosis of Ajax
It’s one of the odder ironies of English letters that Sir John Harington, courtier, poet, and godson to Elizabeth I, is remembered not for his verse but for his privy. Not his own privy parts, mind you, but the contraption he nicknamed the ‘Ajax’ - a flushing water-closet that, in its mechanical elegance, promised to … Continue reading The Privy as Polis: Sir John Harington’s Metamorphosis of Ajax
A Bullet for Speech
Tonight, I’m angry. And incredibly sad. Charlie Kirk has been shot. Not shouted down, not argued against, not reasoned with - shot. A husband, a father, a Christian, and the founder of Turning Point USA - an organisation dedicated to challenging groupthink and encouraging young Americans to think freely. And for this, he was struck … Continue reading A Bullet for Speech
The Kiss of Judee Sill: A Hymn to Love and Death
Some songs drift like smoke and some songs weigh like stone. Judee Sill’s The Kiss is the latter: not a melody you whistle while waiting for a bus, but a requiem whispered in the confessional, heavy with sorrow, radiant with a kind of bruised grace. Judee Sill herself was a paradox incarnate. Born in 1944, … Continue reading The Kiss of Judee Sill: A Hymn to Love and Death
The Jangle of Bells and the Old Dame of Music Halls
There’s nothing quite so peculiarly English as Morris dancing. Only in this island kingdom could the populace collectively decide that the best way to summon spring, frighten away demons, and cheer up the neighbours was to strap bells to one’s shins, wave hankies in the air, and smack one another with sticks. It’s both sublime … Continue reading The Jangle of Bells and the Old Dame of Music Halls
Wording 