by Valerie | Dec 16, 2019 | 1950s, art, Fashion, Fifties, General interest, history, people, travel
A few thoughts before Christmas Are all – or most – happy memories bathed in sunshine outside? Or inside? Or does remembrance make them so? Now, in a dark moment as 2019 slides away, shards shine through impending darkness in no particular order, thrown up... by Valerie | Oct 10, 2018 | 1950s, Fifties, General interest, history, people, travel
In all the fevered debates shadowing the UK’s departure from the European Union one word is rarely mentioned – peace. The historian Winston Churchill behind the better-known politician passionately supported the formation of the 1951 European Coal and Steel Community.... by Valerie | Jan 19, 2015 | childhood, General interest, history
Days before the Paris tragedy, for some reason I was thinking about the teddy bear incident in Sudan some years ago. It must have been because Daniel, aged 5, was looking for a name to give to ‘Lisa’s child’. Lisa is his favourite cuddly toy, a lamb who has rapidly... by Valerie | Jul 31, 2014 | art, General interest, history, travel
Rain from a grey Italian sky has brought me inside from gardening; it has put me in mind of what we humans do to the earth’s surface. Or non-humans, for that matter. A few years ago I was a ‘hanger-on’ at a conference in Paris. It was on the 18th-century architect... by Valerie | Jan 22, 2014 | book reviews, reading groups, travel, writing a novel
Will it never end? The UK Liberal Democrat Party is tearing itself apart in an old, old, question – what constitutes an unwelcome advance. Also in the news is the rather strange person, Stephen Ward, who was caught up on the periphery of a scandal that gave us the...
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