Two stories this week, both in the Guardian, have refreshed my faith in journalism, firstly the unfolding tale of the tragic death of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper seller who collapsed during the G20 protests in London; the other a feature in today’s Guardian about two different organisations helping troubled kids. The extraordinary Ian Tomlinson story… Continue Reading
Monthly Archives: April 2009
Where is Labour’s vision for schools?
One does not need a degree – or indeed level 4 – in common sense to interpret the political meaning of Ed Balls’s most recent speech on Sats. In effect, the schools secretary is saying: We know this system needs radical reform, but we need to be seen to be doing it in our own… Continue Reading
Hollywood women: then and now
Over the past forty eight hours, I have watched two glossy, high end Hollywood ‘womens pictures’ : All about Eve, starring Bette Davis and Anne Baxter, made in 1950; the other a 2008 remake of George Cukor’s classic The Women, starring Hollywood royalty of a certain age, including Annette Bening, Meg Ryan, Debra Messing,Candice Bergen,… Continue Reading
The women who rule our hearts not our countries.
Here’s a quick thought: in a week when political wives shone, and political husbands were shunned, why is it that we love the modern female political spouse so much? Granted, they do the job allotted to them with supreme grace and humour, but that’s the point: it’s a job and yet not a job. Increasingly,… Continue Reading
What stops writers from reading as much as they’d like to?
I sat in on a really interesting conversation earlier this week between a group of well known writers, all talking about how they read, or why they don’t: ‘ I just can’t read, sitting at a desk. Unless I’m at a desk in a library…’ ‘ I do take a book if I’m going on… Continue Reading
Latest writing
THE CRISIS OF THE MERITOCRACY
The crisis of the meritocracy: Britain’s transition to mass education since the Second World War PETER MANDLER, 2020 Oxford: Oxford University Press 361pp, hardback, £25, ISBN 9780198840145 Cambridge historian Peter Mandler has a fundamentally optimistic story to tell about the growth of universal education in Britain over the last seventy years and one can sense… Continue reading…
Latest news & events
A Cold War Tragedy
Melissa will be in conversation with Anne Sebba about her new book, ‘Ethel Rosenberg – A Cold War Tragedy.’ Weds 15th September 2021, 5-6pm, in the Robert Graves Tent at the Wimbledon Book Festival. More information here. Continue reading…
