A year ago Richard Fair wrote this evocative and thought-provoking post “Is it OK to blog while off sick?” Unfortunately, it’s absolutely not OK for me, not even because I’m af...
It could hardly get any better than this – to stumble upon a post about Moscow in 1664 in a blog written by Cardinal Wolsey. The fact that it’s twenty minutes past eleven at night would ma...
The Joy is a short story by a renowned Russian author and playwright, Anton Chekhov. I have long loved it for its satirical look at the individual’s awe of the press. In those days there was no ...
Staying only for half of the day at work on Friday is already enough to put you in the mood for weekend. I was properly in the mood for it on Friday morning, when I discovered that Notebooks – L...
Vladimir Solovyov A Parody on Russian Symbolists mocks an affected, indulgent style of young Symbolist poets and their love for opulent imagery...
My favourite seminar at the Moscow State University was in Modern History, not exactly because I enjoy the time period, but because we had a fantastic tutor who made us read Rousseau, and Montesquieu,...
As I was going to work in the morning, there was a small article in Metro about the Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti being in serious condition. A few hours later at work I read on MSN that one of the ...
MBA is what I have just realised the abbreviation of the Manchester Blog Awards 2007. The first event of this kind was held last year, and as those who were present there a year ago testify, this is a...
Last year when I only just started blogging I wrote this post about the offbeat news stories in Metro newspaper. Those included a story about the bull who got stuck in the river mud while trying to ge...
When I sat down to narrate my journey and stay in Carmarthenshire in June, I wasn’t sure how this would go. As I said in the very first post under Carmarthen Cameos label, I didn’t know ho...