Arts Diary: Pirates of the Caribean:  Everyman ..read more

Arts Diary: Theatre Catch-Up: Macbeth; Vanya; The Glass Menage...:   ..read more

Arts Diary: Furiosa: A Mad Max Tale:  Bristol Everyman ..read more

PDF/Epub book available to all Patreon Subscribers Physical copies in post to all $5+ Patreon Subscribers ..read more

  If you want to know how a cross-section of disgruntled Corbynistas intend to do at the next election, I have written a pamphlet. Initially it's a Patreon exclusive ..read more

What do you mean "we" kemo sabe?  Can you like Christian art without being a Christian? It depends what you mean by "Christian Art". You might like stories. You might think that the Christian stories are good stories even though they aren't true. You might think that Christian art is good art because of the way it tells those stories. On the other hand, you might believe in art for arts sake. You might admire the formal beauty and technical skill in a painting, and not really care whether it depicts the Crucifixion of Jesus or a bowl of bananas. So the question is "Can ..read more

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I like to spend some time every day reading. I am currently working my way through the complete poems of Alan Ginsburg, reading The First Kingdom for the fifth time and reading a book about television by that guy who wrote the good book about folk music.  I like to spend some time every day writing: that's the only way I can justify not working full time, and indeed, continuing to exist at all. I am not a very quick writer: I generally have to free-write at random; select the sensible bits; edit them into a pattern, and then revise three or four times.  I have a couple of schemes to ..read more

The Stones of Blood ..read more

I've never seen Aida, but I've known the music since I was a small boy: and how good it is. It's rather the fashion over here now amongst the musical snobs to look down their noses when Verdi is mentioned and talk about the "cheapness of his thematic material."  What they really mean is that Verdi could write tunes and they can't! C.S Lewis I watched the Pirate Planet, from beginning to end, twice, with a great big grin on my face. I watched the Church on Ruby Lane with a sinking feeling; it did what (I assume) it set out to do: but what it set out to do is of no interest to me. And as ..read more