Courtney and I – in what must count as a shocking display of un-Americanism – went to see Bertolucci’s The Dreamers last night. An intelligent and provocative film, the responses it squeezed out of the audience of twenty or so offered what I think is an insight into the collective consciousness of the nation.
Without spoiling [...]

Britons ’spend more on alcohol than fruit and veg’ claims the Money section of the Guardian. What terrible news! We must be a nation of dispomaniacs!
1kg carrots = 60p, 1kg onions = 67p, 1 cucumber = 58p, total = 185p
1pt draught lager = 228p
(All average prices from some office in Jersey)
If we were to spend [...]

I finally watched The King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese last night. At the beginning of the 80’s he directed two black comedies: this and After Hours. Judging by the comments on the Internet Movie Database they’re pretty widely misunderstood and underappreciated. Too many people fixate on Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino and Taxi Driver. They [...]

Up til now this immigration business has been pretty daunting, but this is surely one deterrent too far. I went to get my Social Security number from the City Hall the other day. There are some windows and a waiting room which are about as threatening as a bank. There’s a ticket dispenser which is [...]