My new book, the second of the London Trails series, is out now. City of Song: A London Sixties Music Trail takes the reader on a walk from Chelsea to Soho, stopping off at twenty-four locations that hosted significant musical performances, encounters and happenings in that decade.
Brutalist architecture mostly leaves me cold or repulsed but I’ve always had a liking, verging on an affection, for the Barbican Estate, perhaps because I worked there for six years and got to know its vastness, its labyrinths, and its hidden byways. I’ve always thought that if there was one structure in London that would survive nuclear war or natural catastrophe it would be the Barbican.
My book, City of Verse: A London Poetry Trail, is now available on the Amazon and Kobo stores.
Having demonstrated against the ills of the world the protesters adjourned to the pubs and coffee shops. It was too much trouble to take their signs and placards with them, too inconvenient…
Despite formidable obstacles, [Chávez] has proved it is possible to lead a popular, progressive government that breaks with neo-liberal dogma. Perhaps that is why he is so hated after all. (Owen Jones in the Independent 2012) The importance of Venezuela is that it shows that another way is possible. (Diane Abbott in an interview 2012) Innovative social programmes, experiments in direct democracy and success in bringing resources under public control offer lessons to anyone interested in social justice and new forms of socialist politics in the rest of the world. (Seumas Milne in the Guardian 2012) Thanks Hugo Chávez for showing that the poor matter and wealth can be shared. He made massive contributions to Venezuela & a very wide world. (Jeremy Corbyn on Twitter 2013)
Autumn leaves are traffic-pressed, Imprinted on the road I cross, Tokens of a year that’s passing.
Back in June, the Times reported that a man named Ismail Kamoka was working for the consular and cultural affairs section of the Libyan embassy. This is the same Ismail Kamoka who was convicted by a British court in 2007 of funding the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and providing false passports.
“I shouldn’t have let myself get dragged into it, but I blame Plutarch. Pete read in the Moralia that the Egyptians brought a skeleton to their feasts, to remind themselves that despite the festivities, life is short and death awaits.