Category Archives: Writing

The medieval educational curriculum was designed to impart to the student the seven liberal arts of classical antiquity. To the initial study of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric was subsequently added a second layer comprising Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy. Trivium … Continue reading →

I thought I’d met posh people before I came here, but actually I’d just met people who eat olives. Jess Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley. HoC speech, January 2019. A number of years ago I helped my Aunt design … Continue reading →

When you play tennis, it’s natural to search out someone that plays much better than you. Ability seems to rise to the occasion, and you surprise yourself how much your technique has improved if you find that your opponent is … Continue reading →

I like it that you like stuff. You like potatoes, you like recess, you love dogs, you love getting your nails done, you love the Warriors. That’s all stuff you like and love, and it’s great that you know about … Continue reading →

Receiving some unexpectedly heartfelt thanks from a couple of my students over the Christmas break reminded me of my own school days. When I was 14 my high school music teacher Erica introduced me to recordings of the recent 1973 … Continue reading →

A recent home performance of some string and flute quartets promised a nice personal counter to the increasingly anonymous concert hall experience. The thought of a couple of Mozart flute quartets and some Beethoven in someone’s home seemed like an invitation too … Continue reading →

My mother was horrified by The Beatles’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1964.) She felt that the song’s overly forward message heralded a downturn in decorum and general civility. The repetitive panting of the lyrics and the explosive tribal yodeling was a far cry from the songs of … Continue reading →

Robert Tressell’s novel The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, published posthumously in 1914, has become a recommended text for initiates into the Socialist movement. It is a dispiriting text in need of a good editor. The plot is episodic and disconnected, the characters don’t develop … Continue reading →

This week’s suicide of Lutterworth teenager Hannah Smith is tragic and incomprehensible. Seeking solace and advice online for a common teenage skin condition, she was verbally hounded and bullied by anonymous contributors to the site Ask.fm to the point where she took … Continue reading →