Category: Articles
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After the flood, the deluge
In Greek mythology, the river Styx divides this world from the underworld. Charon ferries people across the Styx to the netherworld and very few people return from the bowels of the earth (Orpheus and Dante are some examples of men on whom lady luck smiled). The only other people who return from the land of…
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J'accuse : I.M. Jack (The Uncouth)
I’ve got a running series of posts in the blog that goes by the name of “I.M. Jack”. The title came around as a bit of a spoofy nod to the rotund columnist who graces the pages of a rival paper every Saturday. Every time I blog an “I.M. Jack” post it’s more of a…
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J’accuse : ‘Les sanscouilles’
At the time of the French revolution, part of the French population took to calling another part of the population “les sansculottes”. According to one theory, the name is derived from the fact that the partisans of this particular revolutionary faction wore pantaloons (full-length trousers) instead of the fashionable knee-length culotte. (Wikipedia’s summary). I’ve always…
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J'accuse : The Forces of Daftness
Thursday night I watched a great documentary called Teenage Revolution on Channel 4. In it, stand-up comedian Alan Davies charts the political, social and cultural upheavals in the UK of the eighties. During the programme, Davies chooses to interview the then Labour leader (now Lord) Neil Kinnock, who was busy with a revolution of his…
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J’accuse : Preliminary Round
My mind’s been elsewhere this week since I’ve had to deal with a horrible combination of deadlines and convoluted case-work that managed to distract me to no end from my usual “side-job” of diligent observation and general filling of the pages of the ether with bits and bytes of bloggery. If I had to be…