Connecting with Culture - more by Ben Care

Pass It On

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:54:09 +0100

Jamie Oliver is a chef with a big appetite for change. ‘It’s Great Britain! It’s 2008!’ he despairs, ‘I’ve been to Soweto and I’ve seen AIDS orphans eating better than this.’ His new series, Jamie’s Ministry of Food, showcases his determination to transform this situation.

There has already been remarkable transformation. The once ‘naked chef’ has radically impacted the lives of several people, including a woman who ate more than 70 packets of crisps a week; the miner, who deemed cooking to be ‘women’s work’; and the mum who fed her family takeaways so frequently that her young daughter thought kebabs grew in the ground. Lest we underestimate the power and significance of food, learning to cook has transformed the lives of these people, giving them not only new skills but also new confidence and changed relationships.

The Body in the Library

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:10:40 +0100

There is little that we like better, it seems, than settling down to a cosy murder.

A quick body count suggests that this is how many of us unwind – this week alone we can tune into over forty-five hours of detective drama on terrestrial television. Six of the current top ten bestselling hardbacks, and four of the top ten paperbacks, are concerned with one form of crime or another.

But why our continued attraction to, and fascination with, the ever growing corpus of the corpse? After all, despite infinite variety in locations, characters, victims, and modes of dispatch, the essential plot remains the same each time. Regardless of whether it is Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, or Inspectors Morse or Barnaby on the case, and of whatever particular crime is committed, the culprit will eventually – and inevitably – be discovered.

The world of detective fiction is a curious blend of the horrific and the fantastic. It’s a world where violence can break out at any time, and where anyone, even the least expected (perhaps especially the least expected), may have premeditated murder. Interestingly, though, it’s also a world that displays a strange form of optimism; perhaps we could even characterise it as hope. As the acclaimed crime writer, P.D. James, once said, ‘what the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order’. The deep-seated hope that these narratives continue to articulate is that truth cannot be suppressed, that evil will be thwarted, and that things happen for a reason, a reason that, even if not always understood, can at least be explained.

life in cold blood

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:49:47 +0000

After a chilly day spent wandering through the Chiltern Hills, I stopped at the corner of a field, pausing for a moment to take in the view. Suddenly, a stag burst through the hedgerow to my right. Then – after a split-second pause – twenty wild roe deer followed him, one after another. They dashed across the field at an astonishing speed before disappearing out of sight. Our encounter lasted only a few seconds, but it was a potent reminder that, despite our attempts to tame our land, we are surrounded by wildness each day.

the golden arches at the pearly gates?

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:00:10 +0000

It’s been fascinating tracking the frantic rebranding of McDonald’s over the past year. Dirty plastic seating has been stripped out from many branches and replaced with smart, green ‘linger zones’, contemporary artwork and mood lighting. Alongside Big Macs, fresh salads are available for one’s delectation, and only ethically certified coffee served. Rumours abound that a famous fashion designer will shortly redesign the employees’ uniforms.