Archive for 2015
British values
British values are back in fashion. They were introduced by Gordon Brown during Tony Blair’s Labour government: We can find common qualities and common values that have made Britain the country it is. Our belief in tolerance and liberty which shines through British history. Our commitment to fairness, fair play and civic duty’. They surfaced […]
John Pawson’s visual inventory
Most of the books I’ve bought over the years lie on a table, sometimes for months, read or unread, before they find their way to the shelf. But there’s one, bought on impulse three years ago, that has never left the table. Every few weeks I pick it up and work through some of its […]
Iliad
National Theatre Wales’s recent production of the Iliad in Ffwrnes, Llanelli raises interesting questions about dramatising canonical texts not intended for drama. The Greeks are hot on the British stage at the moment. Two versions of Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy appeared in London this year, and Euripides is in vogue too, with productions of Medea and […]
Cadair Idris eto
A wnelo rhai o’m hoff brofiadau o deithio yng Nghymru â Chadair Idris. Ar yr hen ffordd Rufeinig o Domen y Mur tua’r de, does dim golygfa fwy gwefreiddiol na gweld mur hir, mawreddog y mynydd yn y pellter, yn sgleinio’n oren a llwyd yn yr haul isel ar noson glir o haf. Eto, wn […]
Wales Coast Path, day 34: Pembroke from Neyland
By chance we’ve hit upon the only week of the year with sustained high pressure and settled dry weather. But today they’re due to come to an end, and we’ve planned the final day of our south Pembrokeshire week as a half-day walk, from Neyland to Pembroke, in case of rain in the late afternoon. […]
Wales Coast Path, day 32: Castlemartin from Angle
H. has a day off, and C. and I tackle the section west of Angle. We take the same bus to Pembroke and minibus to Angle. The same south-east wind blows, but it’s a fine sunny day, as we walk round the coast between Angle’s two bays. We pass the ancient Old Point House inn, […]
Wales Coast Path, day 33: Angle to Pembroke
Today C., H. and I open up a new walking front. We take the service bus to Pembroke and then the Coastal Cruiser to Angle. It’s a cloudier day, with a strong south-east wind to walk into. At the bus stop in Pembroke we meet a young student from Finland. She’s about to start a […]
Wales Coast Path, day 29: Tenby from Manorbier
After breakfast I visit Manorbier Church, high on a hill opposite the castle. It doesn’t open officially until 9:30, but a woman comes to the door as I try its door handle and invites me in. She’ll leave me alone now, she says, and departs. Perhaps I’m looking spiritually needy. Like all churches in this […]
Wales Coast Path, day 30: Manorbier from Bosherston
Today we’re joined by M. and his binoculars. Again we start from the Bosherston car park, though this time, thanks to M., we escape having to pay the National Trust’s hefty parking fee. Down through the lily ponds again, but by the northern route and across two low bridges. From Broad Haven we turn east […]
Wales Coast Path, day 31: Bosherston to Castlemartin
Manorbier, according to Giraldus Cambrensis, is the pleasantest place in the whole of Wales. He was not impartial, since he was born there in the Castle, but on a warm sunny morning in September it’s hard to disagree. A cottage in the village is our base for a walking week in south Pembrokeshire, and four […]
