Author Archives: Jon

Bye, bye Scotland

A couple of points with regard to the referendum the Scottish Nationalists want to hold, to decide whether or not they want to stay in this relationship with us. Firstly, shouldn’t we also have a referendum in the rest of … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 2 Comments

Pitzi

There’s a great word in Romanian, Pitzipoance, which you can pronounce (badly) in English as pitzy pwonka or just pitzi. It is usually used to describe over made-up and frivolous young women but you can use it to describe men, or … Continue reading

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Teapot

This is my teapot, which I love. There are people who believe there is a god who lives in their teapot. I can see why they might think this, because teapots are lovely, so I respect their belief while not … Continue reading

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Compensation Culture

I was hit last year by a woman who jumped the lights in Brixton, admitted responsibility for destroying my bike and then spent the next six months trying to avoid paying for it. Luckily there was a witness and once … Continue reading

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Charity Shops

I read an article a few years ago about how most charity shops don’t make a profit, they are just there to raise awareness of the charity by providing a permanent and cheap advertising billboard on the High Street. The … Continue reading

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Sad Dream

I had a sad dream last night. It was really like a film, so I wrote down the end of it, as a screenplay. I think it was mostly caused by watching Black Narcissus and the woman in it really … Continue reading

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Kleinzeit by Russell Hoban

Up and Down Nothing but large beautiful girls here, thought Kleinzeit as he took off his pyjamas and put on a gown that tied airily behind. So healthy, too. Each one seemed to confine her energy with difficulty inside her … Continue reading

Posted in Extracts from great works of fiction | 1 Comment

Disaster?

The government of Israel has a policy of assassinating political leaders in Gaza. That means that the people who have ended up in charge of Hamas are the violent nutters rather that anyone who might be interested in a political … Continue reading

Posted in Media, Politics | 1 Comment

Congo

If you’ve ever seen the Stan’s Cafe show Of All the People In All The World, where every grain of rice stands for one person, you may have been surprised by the size of the pile representing all the people … Continue reading

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Uncertainty

Some researchers at Edinburgh University have just published a report about how easy it is to buy prescription-only medicines online. They visited sites which they found via Google and Yahoo but they did not take the final step of actually … Continue reading

Posted in Media, Shopping | 1 Comment