Thoughts and words

Inspiration from perceptions of History

At the time of the Profumo Affair (1961 - 1963) I was between 9 and 11 years old. When the affair blew up, I did not pay much attention to allegations of a sexual liaison between the man in the pic, John Profumo (Secretary of State for War in Harold... Read more →

Inspiration from the stories we tell ourselves

Here's a story. "I was in the pub last night and there was this foreign bloke, loud and aggressive, you know, talking about the Brits and telling everyone what a bunch of idiots they are over Brexit and all that." As it stands, this is not a very interesting story.... Read more →

A Sense of Time: Inspiration through Political Upheaval.

This morning, 16 January 2019, the BBC News is full of Brexit, of yesterday's vote on May's proposed "deal" with the EU. There is a lot of talk about how British business feels about it. Angry, impatient, frustrated are just some of the words used. My immediate thoughts were not... Read more →

The memories of others - inspiration today from Mats Staub's video installation in Frankfurt

Mats Staub calls himself a story collector. The stories he collects are personal memories that mirror history. The memories are Erinnerungen ans Erwachsenwerden or "memories of growing up" and the storytellers are "ordinary" people, that is, people like you and me talking about their transition to adulthood. These ordinary people... Read more →

Inspiration from ageing

Am I the same person I was in 1980? Is there a fundamental “me” which may change a bit but which remains fundamentally the same? Well, what do you think? Do you, dear reader, like to think that staying the way you always were is a sign of your integrity?... Read more →

Inspiration - taking on another nationality

Another language, music, values and history. Can we, as adults, take these on as our own? And if we can, will the people of our adopted country allow you to do it or do they want you to remain different? Should you also take on another history and/or the guilt... Read more →