Indian food has become hugely popular in Britain, but it was not always so. when the first immigrants from the huge sub-continent arrived, their food was too spicy for local palates. Here’s a great story from Stuart Maconie on how he discovered this cuisine, from his book Pies and Prejudice, In Search of the North: … Continue reading
Saturday’s i had an article featuring Monty Don, tv gardening presenter, who criticised the popular 1970s sitcom The Good Life, based on a suburban couple played by Felicity Kendal and Richard Briers who trie d to be self sufficient. Don claims: “No one seriously waned to know how to separate curds from whey or render … Continue reading
Mao Tse Tung was once seen as the hero of the left in the West; his Red Book was recently waved by an MP in Britain’s House of Commons. But Chinese archives are now being opened, and Frank Dikoetter in the current History Today explains the great man now appears one of the great criminals. … Continue reading
This is from Friday’s i paper: Salmon that grow up on a farm are much harder of hearing than those reared in the wild, with half of them suffering a considerable degree of dearness, research suggests. The hearing loss is caused by a deformity of the earbone which reduces hearing sensitivity by up to 50% … Continue reading
This is from Sports and Pastimes of he People of England, published in 1801. Twice or Twety, grand huntsman to Edward II divides animals to be hunted into 3 groups: The first class contains four, which may be properly called beasts for hunting; namely, the hare, the hart, the wolf, and the wild boar. The … Continue reading
Most people have heard about Burke and Hare the bodysnatchers and murderers, but I aways assumed they were both hanged. Not so! This is from Highways & Byways in The Border: Ettrick possesses no feature of interest but … in 1818 two harmless-looking hawkers with a cart were wont to call at intervals ostensibly to sell … Continue reading
Spotted this in major supermarket. Is anyone likely to buy coffee just because women grow it? Does it taste better? Are these women more in need of support than men, perhaps by being extra poor or widows? It’s like voting for Hilary C because she’s a woman, the implication being that she would be more … Continue reading
I went to a talk on this last night, and learnt a lot about how life went on when the war happened. when war was declared, everyone thought it would be over in a short time. I knew that, but I didn’t realise the initial response was an expectation of local unemployment with the loss … Continue reading
This is another excerpt from the wonderful At the Works by Lady Bell. She spent a lot of time interviewing families and the book includes a lot of detailed information on their incomes and lifestyles. I have just started a book which claims the industrial revolution was good for many people. Try this diet and see … Continue reading
People are complicated and I sometimes find people doing good for what seem like dubious reasons, as I recently stumbled upon an article in a newspaper describing a meeting of prominent campaigners soon after the slave trade was abolished. They were all businessmen who proposed ‘compensating’ African countries for having been preyed upon by slavery, … Continue reading
