I love Babur – II
Again, splendid, awkward Babur, the massive mutt picked up by Rory Stewart while trekking across Afghanistan. Usually Rory has to...
A strong soup
Surely one of the most memorable methods for mass disposal of enemies. Hard to compute the numbers in this recipe. ...
Of no human agency or purpose
Ever had that grim feeling as you drive through some urban bleakscape?
Utility and ugliness both begin with 'u' but...
Tyranny and complexity
Years ago I visited a friend in his office and found this quotation tacked to his door (I think it...
Ferrari on aerodynamics
This is of course an outrageous statement, but I loved it when I saw it spray-painted on the wall of...
Alone nothing, together everything
When I searched 'together' to find an image for this simple, striking quotation, I was struck by how many photos...
Where place and time meet
Russell Hoban's is one of the most imaginative, limpid novels I have ever read. Maps loom large in it, real...
Eighteenth century entitlement
The vivid and voluble Mrs Poyser chipping in with her endless fount of wisdom and human commentary. I like this...
My kind of typewriter
This extraordinary piece of engineering allowing a polyglot to spin between four languages and keyboards. Manual typewriters, mind, not bits...
A sense of happiness in the light of spring
What a beautiful corrective lens for the 'nasty, short and brutish' view of distant human lives. I did not realise...
Government as jugglery
According to this 9th century vizier, policy is what you end up with once you've figured out what works. You...
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