Near frost last night. I covered the tomatoes and lettuces. Must go and see how they are.

I have finished reading The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, the American version of the first month of World War I. She mostly sides with the French and especially not with Sir John French (how confusing! send for Martin Amis!). A bit of a ripping yarn - military history has its seductions - but the interesting thing was the accounts of German ( Read more... )

I have finished reading Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury. This was recommended by Jimmy Robertson as being one of the two books you need to read to understand all of politics. I can't remember the other one, it may have been Capital. Yes, the Tammany Hall story is pervasive, but the book doesn't really say enough about the links between ( Read more... )

"Mr Bean's rubbery face and pratfalls may be unfunny here, but they obviously have some kind of recognition in Iran. Indeed, Tehran's Hamid Reza Mahisefat has performed shows as Iran's Mr Bean. Maybe our comics travel better than our sailors."

When I first started working in NZ, in 1989, some locals declared an alarmingly high regard for the show "' ( Read more... )