I was reading in the garden today and heard a distinctive chirp: there was a female house sparrow on the bird feeder. Once, this would have been normal, but British house sparrow numbers have plummeted in the past few years; the sparrow population of London declined 75% between 1999 and 2004. It was the first [...]
Posts tagged with ‘London’
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Anthony Gormley at the Hayward
11 July 2007 – 2:48 pm
Last week I went to Blind Light, the Gormley show at the Hayward. Gormley must be the third most famous artist in Britain, I should think*, particularly on the back of two spectacular public works: Angel of the North and Another Place.
For those of you who don’t know his work—foreigners and the like—he has [...]
London 2012 logo reactions
6 June 2007 – 2:16 pm
As regular readers probably know, I’m an enthusiastic supporter of the London Olympics. But I’ve always had my own particular private worry about them. Not transport problems or cost overruns; no, what I’ve always had a nagging worry about is the opening ceremony.
There have been two big international sporting events held in the UK in [...]
‘Two Lives’ by Vikram Seth
28 May 2007 – 12:47 pm
Two Lives is a biography of Seth’s great-uncle and aunt. They met in the 30s in Berlin when Shanti Seth was studying dentistry and took lodgings with the (Jewish) Caro family. Henny Caro was one of the daughters of the house and at the time was engaged to someone else; but after the war they [...]
London sports day
1 January 2007 – 4:14 pm
A free idea for the people at London 2012 to engage with the public and generate positive vibes: a London sports day, held somewhere like Hyde Park. Invite people from all London’s community groups (schools, churches, mosques, clubs and societies; as broad a range as possible) to take part in a big day-long jamboree of [...]
Hurray for the London Olympics!
23 November 2006 – 5:04 pm
I really feel like London was cheated out of a cheerful honeymoon period of harmless excitement between winning the bidding for the 2012 Olympics and the start of the inevitable gloomy stories about spiralling costs. Cheated because, of course, it was the morning after we won that a bunch of devout young men from Leeds [...]
Back in London.
13 November 2006 – 1:25 am
Ho-hum.
Been back for over 24 hours now. It’s dark here. And cold. Not many hummingbirds, either.
Still, I haven’t been to the Velasquez yet, so that’s something to look forward to. And the Holbein.
Houses of Parliament
14 September 2006 – 9:35 pm
I went on a tour of the Houses of Parliament today, which was well worth doing. Most obvious point: the chambers of the Lords and the Commons are both really surprisingly small. Too small, in fact; you can see why the Commons is standing-room only for PMQs.
I was amused by the fact that, while the [...]
Fruit of my Seed
18 July 2006 – 9:29 pm
I was walking in the park behind the house today and, just growing in a little scrubby patch, found a sunflower and a hemp plant. Both of them are probably growing from seed I put out for the birds.
I’m slightly suprised that no bored local youth has taken the hemp plant for personal use. Don’t [...]
17th century fly-by
7 July 2006 – 2:16 pm
A cool thing from the people at Digitally Distributed Environments:
See the whole panorama here.
FSotW: All Evening Standard Headlines
1 July 2006 – 10:33 am
From the set All Evening Standard Headlines
all photos © DarrenS
ARMED POLICE RAID FARCE
23 June 2006 – 6:43 pm
As the Evening Standard news-stands put it. Which conjured up an image that I don’t think they intended.
FIFA London Cup 2006
12 June 2006 – 11:00 pm
I was thinking the other day that it’s surprising and slightly disappointing that, while London is covered in England flags for the World Cup, you don’t see many flags from other countries. Something like 25% of people resident in London were born outside the UK, so there must be plenty of people supporting just about [...]
Michelangelo drawings at the BM
25 May 2006 – 1:08 pm
The British Museum has an exhibition of Michelangelo drawings at the moment. According to them:
Drawing on the outstanding collections of the British Museum, the Ashmolean and the Teyler Museum in Haarlem, Michelangelo Drawings is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to follow the evolution of some of the world’s most celebrated artworks
Which is probably fair. Being Michelangelo, it [...]
Billy Elliot, the Musical
21 May 2006 – 11:16 pm
Yesterday I went to Billy Elliot, the musical of the movie.
Which I have to say was very enjoyable, in an emotionally manipulative kind of way. The little kid with a poignant letter from his dead mother, who wants to be a ballet dancer despite coming from a northern town in the process of being [...]
‘Gothic Nightmares’ at the Tate
2 May 2006 – 5:22 pm
I went to Tate Britain at the weekend to see Gothic Nightmares – Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination (which finished yesterday). It was mainly an exhibition of Henry Fuseli, with a few pictures by his imitators and contemporaries, including William Blake. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large exhibition devoted to such [...]
LOL!
3 April 2006 – 5:13 pm
From the IHT, via Londonist:
School officials in a Florida county said they were concerned about terrorism when they decided to keep a high school band from marching in a London parade, and now British officials are telling travelers that Fort Myers is no safe haven, either.
Local officials fear that the dispute could cost Lee County, [...]
Arsenal
29 March 2006 – 10:29 pm
Arsenal looked pretty damn good against Juventus last night. I’d love it if they won the Champion’s League, not just because they’re a British and London team but because it would be a bit more sand kicked in the face of Roman Abramovich.
mock-mock
11 March 2006 – 1:06 am
I went to an event at City Hall today, the details of which shall be revealed on Sunday. City Hall is right next to Tower Bridge, and I was thinking what a strange thing it is: a Gothic mechanised bridge. Particularly since the Victorians didn’t obviously erect such things in a spirit of fun or [...]
Ken suspended
25 February 2006 – 12:06 am
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, has been suspended from the job for four weeks because ‘The Adjudication Panel for England’ decided that he has brought the job into disrepute by making insensitive remarks to a Jewish reporter. The exact rights and wrongs of the original remark can be argued over, but as a Londoner, [...]