Penned In

Right On Cue: Laughter & Diplomacy In Congress

Whatever you think of King Charles’s speech at Congress, it was a masterclass in timing. He has received criticism for remaining overly-cooperative. Some saw this as a missed opportunity to make a...

“Few die well that die in a battle” | Henry V Review

I realise, as I finally sat down to write this, that I’d been putting it off.  When approaching Shakespeare, I’ve always been on the deferential side. Knowing a lot about Shakespeare is not a clai...

The Art Of Noticing

There is a particular kind of light that exists for about twenty minutes after sunrise. It arrives low and unhurried, moving across surfaces at an angle that ordinary daylight never finds. It catc...

Phone vs. Pen: a zero-sum game?

A common complaint made against pen and paper is that they are less ‘efficient’ than phones. In the eyes of many they are anachronistic forebears of the devices which now do it all for us. The gen...

A Glimpse of Don McCullin

I hadn’t expected to come across Don McCullin on a farm in Somerset. I was on holiday to escape from things; nothing in particular, just the responsibility and concomitant stress of the everyday. ...

Review: Mihail Sebastian, Women (1933)

This week we review Women, by Mihail Sebastian.  First published in 1933, this is a seductive, heady and at times unsettling novella. It explores the relationships that its central character, Ste...

Review: Zadie Smith, Intimations: Six Essays (2020)

This week’s book is ‘Intimations,’ by Zadie Smith. The subtitle, ‘Six Essays,’ does not gird you for the emotional generosity of the collection. Nor does the stature of the volume which is, as Smi...