Archive: 2025-09
Week 246: Summer’s last stand
I took Wednesday off to take part in the protest against Trump’s visit. I avoided the milling around at the start and took a direct route to join the head of the march around Piccadilly Circus, so I didn’t really get a good sense of how many people were behind. It felt smaller than last time, but it was in the middle of a working day, so you wouldn’t expect a huge turnout. The Met deployed 1600 police, which seems rather a lot for a peaceful march and rally.
Week 245: Infinite variations
I put on a CD of Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Hewitt’s 1999 piano recording, for those who are interested) while I was making dinner. After I had done all the preparation, cooked all the food, and was about to serve, I realised that it had been playing for an implausibly long time. I took a closer look. The player was restarting the final track every time it reached about a minute and a half into it, but in a way that wasn’t jarring, and wasn’t obvious unless you listened out for it.
Week 244: Vexillomania
England’s racists have gone mad for flags. An England flag on a church tower or a historic castle signifies one thing. Flags on cars and houses during a football tournament signify another. But you don’t have to pretend that a shaky red cross painted on a mini-roundabout or a tatty nylon flag (£14 for 6 from AliExpress, I checked) on a lamppost signifies anything other than exclusionary xenophobia …
Week 243: Loft conversion season
As summer comes to an end, loft conversion season begins here in south London. From our back garden alone I can see two houses tented in scaffolding and polythene while they have the roofs ripped off, and there’s another one down the other end of the road.