Random thoughts and ramblings on no particular theme.
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Tourists flying into Amsterdam may not notice that the map of the city contained inside their in-flight magazines is different to the one they would have encountered a year ago. Where once the city map would have provided an overview of the arched canals, the Dam Square and the Vondel Park, one area of the
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As constitutionally momentous occasions go, Monday October 15th, was a rather subdued affair. Two men sat down together in Edinburgh and quietly signed an agreement. The news coverage was brief and no panic or hullabaloo was reported on the streets. Yet the agreement that was signed that day, now dubbed the “Edinburgh Agreement”, could herald
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The striking thing about many classic fairytales is the often violent and macabre nature of the stories that are told within them. Gruesome and outlandish tales where death, destruction and magic all merge into one rollicking good tale that inspires fear and pleasure in equal measure. Because for all their ghoulishness, read them aloud
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All is quiet in the Annie M.G. Schmidt theatre. No small achievement considering there are forty small kids packed into the small space. But the tiny faces sitting on their red cushions are already rapt and filled with wonder. Before us the authors and illustrators Dieter and Ingrid Schubert are getting ready to present their
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Many years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting David McTaggart, founder of Greenpeace. David was a charismatic and charming man and his company was easy and friendly and very entertaining. Our conversation that day, however, did not, as you may imagine, hang on the perilous state of planet earth. Rather, David was more intrigued
