Monthly Archives: February 2009

A moral makeover: or what to do with nearly £2000 a day!

Posted on February 27, 2009 by

I hope Sir Fred Goodwin, former head of Royal Bank of Scotland, reads his Aristotle because he is in dire need of a moral makeover. Magnificence was a required aspect of all forms of cultural display and therefore expenditure in … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural history, Family history | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Would Orwell have been a blogger?

Posted on February 26, 2009 by

Of course he would!  The appeal of an instant platform combined with 24-hour access to information and to his readers would have been as irresistible to him as it is to today’s bloggers.   Of course, staying on Jura might … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural history, reading | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Antediluvian membership rules

Posted on February 24, 2009 by

I was at St Andrews University and now live not that far away, south of the Forth.  The reason for this geographical introduction will become clear in a moment.  The Firth of Forth is wide enough to have been a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural history | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Some inspiration from Horace

Posted on February 15, 2009 by

A couple of posts ago I mentioned the FT Weekend as being one of my favourite papers.   Among the many excellent columnists who write for it, Harry Eyres’ weekly back-page column rarely fails to come up with food for thought, … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural history, Italy, reading | Tagged , , | Leave a comment