When I was young, droughts were something that happened elsewhere: as a punishment from God in the Bible, or in far off Africa, where unfortunate babies with distended bellies would die in the scorching heat of an evil sun. In Scotland, by contrast, there was never a shortage of rain ... Read More...

Whilst recently going polar bear watching in Canada, I visited what must be a very strong contender for the world’s least successful military fort. Construction of the Prince of Wales Fort, at the mouth of the Churchill River on the Hudson Bay in Canada, started in 1731 (probably; though the plaque on ... Read More...

Many records can be simply bad, but it's a rare tune indeed that is so toe curlingly awful, both lyrically and musically, that it transcends its humble ingredients to become something rather 'special'. Having had the privilege of being introduced to some of the world's most sublime music via this Lazy Sunday slot on ... Read More...

A few months ago I was sitting in a boat during Antigua’s ClassicYacht Regatta, a little too close to the racing for comfort. Many of the sleekly designed sailing craft had been fitted out with sails made from a new type of go-faster fabric. The aesthetic effect wasn’t that appealing, ... Read More...

Beautiful Birmingham... ah, the Inner Ring Road. Yes, it's my kind of town... ... Read More...

On storm-tossed seas, clinging to the gunwale aboard her barquentine … this is where we find Sister Hortense. She reminds us, does she not, of the Tall Nun in The Wreck of the Deutschland by Gerard Manley Hopkins, but even taller? Back at the convent, perched dangerously on the edge of ... Read More...

Death-sweats, Paddington spectacles and gallows humour this week, as Jonathon Green continues his slang tour of London with a trip to Tyburn... It is an old place. A crossroads where as we know wicked deeds assemble. It had a marker: Oswulf’s stone, seemingly pre-Roman and which may have been the meeting-place ... Read More...

As a follow-up to Mahlerman's wonderful Lazy Sunday post on Wagner, we thought Worm's piece from August 2010 would be a suitable episode in our season of holiday repeats... It is fortunate for us mere mortals that the sexual escapades that consume and torment the greatest artistic geniuses often produce such an ... Read More...

Every month we award a bottle of Glengoyne 10 year old single malt - the finest whisky available to humanity - to a commenter... We always said we could award the Glengoyne Comment of the Month for any reason, and this time we've gone for out-and-out sycophancy. The winner is Richard, ... Read More...

I have in my possession, courtesy of Penguin Classics, three very big, very beautiful hardback copies of the newly published Complete Stories by Kingsley Amis. Expensive too, they retail at £25 each – but you can win one free. I hardly need introduce Kinglsey to erudite Dabblers, but his short stories ... Read More...