We are very fond of doing cryptic crossword puzzles. The Guardian newspaper always produces a really good one to mark each public holiday, and we are deeply engaged with the latest of these. It is a real stinker, and we have only just tumbled to the fact that there is a theme running through many … Read more
It is odd that I have ended up asking this question, given the starting point over breakfast this morning. The stimulus to my train of thought was the perpetual fuss in the media about the way in which the Covid-19 restrictions have disrupted family contact. This can be summed up in the chief topic of … Read more
For understandable reasons the government is loosening rapidly a series of restrictions on movement and contact which were put in place to combat the Covid outbreak. Quite explicitly they have been betting on the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign, which one has to admit has been managed pretty effectively. Yesterday my eye was caught by … Read more
This morning I decided that it might be prudent to follow government advice and take a test to see if I am carrying the Covid-19 virus. The experience was extremely strange and actually put me in mind of Samuel Beckett’s Godot. The test site was a small tent set up in the middle of Bradford’s … Read more
I remember (from way back when I used to teach this stuff) that Roland Barthes had some interesting things to say about haircuts. He was fascinated by the uniformity of the hair-styles given to characters from ancient Rome, in Hollywood movies. They all had to have short hair (if I remember correctly) cut with a … Read more
Time and again, listening to the reporting of various social problems, the press appears to be uncritically willing to blame the victims of the situation. Yesterday I picked up a report about the general, nation-wide decrease in the number of Covid-19 cases in this country, appended to which was an observation that in parts of … Read more
During the siege of Sarajevo the inhabitants decided that an important contribution to the sustaining of morale could be made by maintaining pride in their appearance. Women made sure that they wore make-up when they went out. Men continued to shave regularly. Clothing and shoes were kept clean. They called this “aesthetic resistance”, placing it … Read more
It is amazing how human inventiveness responds to the need to create activities with which to fill time. The pandemic has been an astonishing stimulus to the invention of new time-fillers. I invented a new one today which I can recommend. My wife and I play Scrabble regularly, and this little exercise is based upon … Read more
Generally speaking I have managed to survive the past year and the Covid-19 epidemic with a degree of equanimity. I think I can say truthfully that I have never really felt threatened by the situation. (A part of that unconcern, of course, might be due to the fact that nobody close to me has been … Read more
I like to think that I have sailed through the nine months of restriction because of the current pandemic with little trouble. In fact, I have almost boasted on occasions of the way in which the halting of several of my formerly regular activities has opened the way to a time of unusual productivity in … Read more