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UMBRELLA BLOG

Bi-weekly articles on a variety of topics

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...

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) Alessandro was a great composer of vocal music – operas, cantatas,...

When I came across this book by chance, I pounced on it! It was written in french shortly after Chopin’s...

Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto together in 1848. It’s punchy and readable. It starts “A...

We drove down the A13 from Paris and spent a few hours in Fécamp on a cold sunny day in March. This port...

A sizeable proportion of Bach’s oeuvre was written for the organ, and this in itself is a good enough...

There are of course many styles of cookery books, but almost all of them suffer from the same shortcomings....

Has the sun gone down on the City of Light? Is it overrated? I’ve been living in Paris these last 20...

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.