Connecting with Culture - Other Contributions

Redundancy

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:45:14 +0100

The sight of stunned employees carrying their personal possessions in cardboard boxes out of the Lehman Bank building is etched in my memory. Gathering in a state of shock in local bars, some dulled their pain with alcohol and tried to rebuild self-worth through group support. And this might well prove to be just the tip of the iceberg; ‘downsizing’ will likely hit many of us with a new intensity as the economy falls into recession.

Winning and Losing

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:20:36 +0100

Were you screaming encouragement at the TV last Saturday, urging the British men’s coxless four to rowing gold in Beijing? There is something mildly addictive about the Olympics. Perhaps it’s the athletes’ aspiration to, and demonstration of, excellence that stirs something noble in our souls. Only the hardest of hearts could be unmoved by the tears of joy, and the sobs of disappointment that have been headline news for the past two weeks.

Reaction to different competitors’ medal-winning and misfortunes has revealed the extent to which, in the developed world, at least, respect is based on merit, and achievement the passport to social acceptance. So it is that record-breaking, champion swimmer, Michael Phelps, gets to shake hands with President Bush, while China’s crestfallen Liu Xiang prompts a mass exodus from the birds nest stadium on withdrawing from the 110m hurdles due to injury.

Prince Caspian – Leadership Under the Lion

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:46:34 +0100

Narnia returns to the big screen this week as Prince Caspian opens in cinemas nationwide, a week after hitting the very, very big screen of the O2 arena at its UK premiere. The new film sees the Pevensie children – Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy – summoned back to Narnia by the eponymous hero, who is rightful heir to its throne. But it is an occupied and embattled Narnia to which they return. True Narnians are now a persecuted minority, and the murderous usurper, Miraz, rules by fear, division and violence. Cue lots of CGI, fantastical violence, elaborate sets and beautiful scenery; together with some subtle details that will please die-hard fans of the book.

mona lisa’s eyebrows

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:09:26 +0100

Is there no limit to what science can reveal to us? In yet another leap forward, this week a French inventor, Pascal Cotte, established after numerous tests that the Mona Lisa originally did have eyelashes and eyebrows. Dan ‘Da Vinci Code’ Brown must be kicking himself for missing that secret!

the west wing

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:10:11 +0100

Literature lovers are ‘well-read’. Film experts are ‘cineastes’. TV fans are ‘addicts’ – unless they happen to watch The West Wing, the celebrated drama about the machinations of the White House, to which a new leader is elected on More4 next week.