Month: February 2017

We walked on the moon. You be polite…

Moving the entire Crystal Palace from Hyde Park nine hilly miles to that vale in Sydenham after the Great Exhibition closed in 1851 was an audacious piece of Victorian chutzpah, but it was by no means unique in that age of civil engineering audaciousness now long passed from the Western psyche. Think first about how… Continue reading We walked on the moon. You be polite…

Kill Whitey, or at least stop labelling him

I have just finished re-watching Ken Burns’ austere yet elegiac panorama in time and space entitled simply The Civil War, first broadcast 27 years ago. It occurred to me how quickly have curse words changed. I don’t mean since 1861-5, you understand, but from when the series was made. Nowadays in certain respects our sensibilities have become dulled;… Continue reading Kill Whitey, or at least stop labelling him

Three murders; three verdicts

For those incensed over the waywardness of justice these days, where ‘human rights’ trump human wrongs, it’s worth thinking about the way things were. On one evening in April a visiting judge arrived with a fanfare and civic reception to work his way through the prisoners gathered before him at the Spring Assize.  The town was Taunton, Somerset; the year was… Continue reading Three murders; three verdicts

Your seed catalogue for 1797 has arrived

Fresh off the ship from England, five, yes count them, five, different varieties of asparagus seed and 23 different melon varieties. Things weren’t so bad in Philadelphia after the war as long as you could feast on 13 different kinds of radish,  or 26 different cabbages. For the previous year’s catalogue in full go to… Continue reading Your seed catalogue for 1797 has arrived

I thought you died alone… A long long time ago

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! How about, let’s see, how about adding to that wretched refuse list, convicted assassin. We last encountered the fiery revolutionary Carlo… Continue reading I thought you died alone… A long long time ago