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UMBRELLA BLOG

Bi-weekly articles on a variety of topics

Let’s take a whistle-stop tour of the ideas and philosophies of the Renaissance (1350-1600). Religious...

The pitch of veneration that JS Bach can inspire is unbounded. For these worshippers, every measure of...

Spinoza (1632-1677) was a bit of an eccentric. A Dutch philosopher of Jewish origin, he cultivated a...

Whenever I go to London I always call in on a small radical bookstore called Housmans on the lookout...

Roll recordings and the brief few seconds of Gershwin playing ‘I Got Rhythm’ (1931 film)...

1858 is a key date in the history of chess, the year when Paul Charles Morphy dazzled the world. This...

The long stretch of the Middle Ages boasts many great works of literature, from Beowulf to the Song of...

Michel Foucault (1926-84) was a French thinker, one of the “postmodernists”. Not really a philosopher...

The most accessible genres of classical music are those which combine music with drama – namely ballet...

TRAVEL

Not your classic tourist guides (“top 10 places to see” etc), but just my impressions and background notes on the places I visit

CULTURE

Music (classical music and jazz), the Visual Arts (paintings, architecture, sculpture), Literature, Films.

PARIS & ENVIRONS

I currently live in Paris, so I’ll collect here some notes this wonderful city and places you can easily get to by car or train.

PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS & ECONOMICS

Who was Spinoza? What did Pascal have to say? Geopolitics and Economics.

CUISINES & COOKING

Quick guides on different cuisines, and what you can make with what you have in the fridge or larder and a “key ingredient”.

ODDS & ENDS

Nature, languages, non-fiction books, and whatever takes my fancy.