Author Archive
HOTEL REVIEW: The Principal York
May 28 2023- Madeleine
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The Principal York Hotel: 4 / 5 stars.
Monica Costa and myself headed North to sample the joys of York and review The Principal York Hotel. The Telegraph gave it 4 stars and we concord with this rating.
Musings on acute fecal incontinence
May 27 2023- Madeleine
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There’s fart, there’s shit and now there’s a helpful new compound word to clarify the subtleties of bowel incontinence – ‘shart’ – currently called ‘leaking poo’ by the NHS. It’s a lonely, unsettling and little spoken of place you go for 24 hours after eating an indian or some highly processed food, in which you can no longer fart with confidence.
BALLET REVIEW: The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House
May 26 2023- Madeleine
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The Sleeping Beauty ballet is back at the ROH on its 99th performance, and now accessible to all in a cinema near you.
Just stop JUST STOP OIL
May 23 2023- Madeleine
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‘Get off the ****ing road!’ I bellowed across 3 lanes of traffic in my most ferociously loud teacher voice, only ever used for breaking up playground punch-ups. I’m petite so there’s the element of surprise. I’ve stopped footie fisty-cuffs in the tube at Fulham Broadway and a roly-poly drunken brawl on Putney High Street ‘Ya not our mum.’ one brother growled. That’s all bringing out the bitch for show. But on Putney Bridge last week, I was feeling genuinely GBH-ish.
Bell-ringing for beginners: or should I say Bell-swinging?
May 22 2023- Madeleine
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Bell-ringing for beginners: or should I say Bell-swinging.
Did you know there’s a book listing every belfry (‘bell tower’) in the world with 3 or more swinging bells and 95% of them are in England? Swingers have the knobs on stalks (‘clappers’, as in, go like the ) inside that clang as the bell goes horizontal. There’s solo and twin bells, but they aren’t counted because all you can do with them is ding-dong or dong-ding. Not very exciting. You can’t make bell music ‘a method’ i.e. a sequence of dongs in a prearranged mathematical order. And that’s what fires up the bell-ringers of the British Isles and certain outposts of the ex-Empire.
