Category Archives: Uncategorized

It’s a hot, smoggy day in London and I’m sitting on an overcrowded train. It’s too hot for this many people to be in one space. In fact, it’s too hot for this many people to be in one place: … Continue reading →

I want to write about science. Well, I don’t really, I’m dragging my heavy arms to the keyboard, I have surfed every website I can think of, I have even done the washing up. It’s not that I don’t like … Continue reading →

The top brass at the New York Times must be ecstatically happy about their new ombudsman. Far from making use of his privileged position to speak truth to power, Byron (Barney) Calame seems to think that his job is to … Continue reading →

The continual changing scenery can be slightly overwhelming at times. Mostly, as I say to everyone, it’s like I’ve been gone for 10 minutes. Not even ten days to the Med with holiday snaps to prove. Ten minutes or a … Continue reading →

The airport hotel in Santiago had all mod cons, including an en-suite bathroom, with bath. I was very excited about this bath, but as I went to close the curtains at the window so I could waltz around naked between … Continue reading →

Watching eight sno-cats leave the base in convoy this morning was very impressive. Eight fully loaded sno-cats, each towing a sledge piled high and a few passengers inside, off to meet the ship 50 km away. The trip will probably … Continue reading →

Post-winter trip I: Ropes and Rumples So, I’m back! Fully rested and relaxed, we had a great time away: a lot of playing, a bit of learning, lots of new sights and a refreshing time off base. A break for … Continue reading →

One of the best things about being me is that I have a very cool grandmother who takes me to Glyndebourne every summer. (She herself hasn’t missed a season since she first went at some point in the 1930s, I … Continue reading →

Today is the first day of New York Fashion Week, when the world’s fashion industry descends on Bryant Park for a sleepless round of shows, parties and gossip. The magazine industry loves it, of course, with the September issue of … Continue reading →

It has felt like waking up out of a dream, that slightly hazy feeling after a crazy night out, a little disorienting, stretching, opening eyes, rolling over again and returning to the comfort of covers. Dizzy and perplexed, happy memories, … Continue reading →

After the Critical Mass ride, I suspected it. The following day, I thought it might just be a bike thing. But events today have made it clear: everything we thought we knew about the NYPD’s ability to manage protest is … Continue reading →

I really can’t believe it’s September tomorrow. But I have no frame of reference either. I guess at home you’ll be watching the leaves become less green or recently-born animals becoming be less cute. You can feel it in the … Continue reading →

house-party I’m having a party tonight and you’re all invited. I hope you can make it – it would be cool to see some new faces for an evening, a novelty you could say. Not that we’re bored of the … Continue reading →

The August issue of Vanity Fair – not online, of course – runs a letter from superstar architect Charles Gwathmey, responding to an article the magazine ran in June about Richard Meier’s Perry Street towers: I was disappointed by the … Continue reading →

I’ve been out and about lately and it feels good. Nothing as exotic or high speed as what you folk out there in the ‘Real World’ can do I admit, but a kilometre away from the base makes all the … Continue reading →

It’s a been a busy day by Halley standards. We’ve had just a mere glimpse of the speed of things back home and are retreating back into our shell. To plot. It’s a nice shell, it’s safe and warm and … Continue reading →

It is, as the title suggests, blowing an absolute hoolie outside and I fear I have been over-romanticising Antarctica in my latest scrawls. I have not seen the sun for a week. I have been outside, for more than five … Continue reading →

A few years ago, my mum and I went to Africa. The desert, and the ocean, have called her for years. I guess Antarctica is the perfect cross between both. Anyway, we found ourselves being driven across the desert in … Continue reading →

This website is going to be very quiet for most of the month of April, as Felix Salmon goes on holiday to Japan. Sorry about that. Also, for blogspam reasons, I’m not letting anybody comment on this website while I’m … Continue reading →

Back in February 2001, Deutsche Bank was very bearish on a major US telecommunications company. In a credit review, the bank’s analyst said that "per concerns/trends summarized above, [the company] will be downgraded,"adding that "we seek a cap at the … Continue reading →

I had the longest bath of my life last night: eight hours in a steaming hot tub, to make up for all the baths I haven’t had in the past six months and won’t have in the next year. It … Continue reading →

I have so much to say that I almost don’t know where to start! So here are some answers to questions from Stefan. Post your own, and I’ll see if I can answer them too! Does one have affairs? How … Continue reading →

Anybody remember that in the wake of the Lawrence v Texas decision, everybody was talking about the anti-gay backlash which would only intensify if gay marriage started getting onto the agenda? Well, guess what: gay marriage is about to be … Continue reading →

Joseph Clarke, over at unfolio, calls me one "of the blogosphere’s great arts writers" today, which is more than enough reason for me to link to him. He also joins in the Monet debate, and adds some new arguments of … Continue reading →