Very odd to see a film as quintessentially English as The History Boys among an American audience. Were others aware of the crucial layering of “other” universities? Neither Hull nor Loughborough is Oxbridge, of course; but nor is Hull Loughborough. Excellent, excellent fun, and well portrayed too...

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Tell me Mercury isn’t checking his cellphone to see whether anyone has sent him an SMS? One of the great things about Washington DC is just how much free art is available. (I think I’ve blogged about this before, but I’m blowed if I can find the post.) Anyway, that means one can pop in and out of g...

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Start: 95.4 Last week: 88.5 This week: 188
Tuesday 26 December: I realize that I simply have no will power. Or rather, I have no ability to absent myself from the table when others want to eat. Over the past few days the eating has not been excessive, not by any normal standards. But there have b...

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Ah, the bliss of an economic Christmas.

When a long time passes quickly, that’s a good sign. When you leave a movie thinking, “I wonder what that meant?”. Suspense without phony fear. Definitely a fine movie. Matt Damon is wonderfully repressed throughout, the only distraction being that I was continually reminded of an old and dear frien...

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