A pair of peregrine falcons is raising a single chick on a nesting platform at the top of the 200 feet high County Hall in the centre of the Buckinghamshire town of Aylesbury. The falcons have been nesting here since 2011, and I don’t think our sense of wonder should diminish. All round the world, totemic… Continue reading
Corals reefs worth an annual $36 billion to tourism in peril worldwide
Climate change is causing significant damage to a multi billion dollar sector of the tourism industry, the coral reefs of 100 countries and territories, and scientists say there is only a narrowing window of opportunity in which to preserve what’s left of it. A report published in April 2017 put the value of “on-reef and… Continue reading →
How Hay Festival ideas stay run the mind and find their time
I like to come away from the Hay Festival with an idea or two to ponder on. Time was short this year, and even then we made one wrong choice. The estimable John Julius Norwich, with his “Four Princes” seemed a good choice, but on reflection it was no more than a polished but ultimately… Continue reading →
Festivals in fields – how WOMAD, Glastonbury and Hay caught spirit of Woodstock
As the 2017 music, books and ideas festival season gets going, it’s time to reflect on those colourful, animated jamborees that break out in random, rural corners of Britain, regardless of the weather, throughout the summer. — It’s the social phenomenon of our times, the open-air summer music festival in which huge numbers of people come… Continue reading →
Eat at Joe’s – Covent Garden’s taste of New York to live on
Joe Allen, the illustrious subterranean Covent Garden restaurant forced to close as its present location is being turned into a hotel, is to be recreated “brick by brick” in a new location just 40 yards away. Its distinctive features – brick arches, the tongue and groove wood panelling, the bar top, light fittings, posters of West End… Continue reading →
BrightCharger: the way to “intelligently” power your phone?
Energy-saving BrightCharger automatically gives phones just the right amount of power. I remember the question, in the distant technological past, in a Carphone Warehouse outlet on the Marylebone Road in London. I was picking up my first, clunky mobile phone. “And is it possible to overcharge the phone?” asked a customer alongside me. The assistant… Continue reading →