For most of the last 45 years, the UK was the object of envy from its EU member state colleagues. Many felt that the UK had been able to influence EU institutions, policies and activities far more intelligently than any other member state. It was a widespread view, shared privately by many European politicians and […]
Author Archives: Lionel Stanbrook
2026 Ahem
PEAGE PINTXOS BANISTER: May 2026
Ahem, I travelled down to La Hune with Jurrat and Jessie in a well-loaded car [...]
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01
Jun
Jun
2026 Ahem
MUSKETS SHRIFT RAPT: April 2026
Ahem Alli and I were up and early on Good Friday to be driven with [...]
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30
Apr
Apr
Professional Writing Writing
They awoke…
The hidden past of the bisexual pronoun Those of all political and cultural persuasions [...]
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2026 Ahem
BABY FAIRYLAND TWITTEN: March 2026
Ahem I was about to open a pile of birthday cards when I was encouraged [...]
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30
Mar
Mar
2026 Ahem
QUOTIDIAN HAMMERHEAD HIPPO: February 2026
Ahem Rain and colder weather in southern England dominated the first few days of the [...]
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02
Mar
Mar
29
Dec
Dec
Ahem, Our first several days in our new house, perhaps predictably, were at once disorienting, exciting, and revelatory. Somehow we needed to fill each room with shared meaning culled separately from our individual lives in the Alsace, in the Cote d’Ivoire, and during the last four years of beguiling purgatory in Burgess Hill. We had […]
05
Dec
Dec
Most Africans suffer poverty and inequality in various different forms, including income and employment, geography, age and gender. The gender dimension is particularly significant, with poverty rates among women and girls far higher than among men or boys. Market research was commissioned in 2016 to help understand the economics of the gender divide in […]
01
Dec
Dec
Ahem, It was night in the cold northern foothills of Dartmoor. The country sky was scattered with stars but the moon was hiding behind a black veil. I had brought my car soundlessly to a halt by an old five-bar gate opening onto a misty field of shadows that stretched down into a dark silence. […]
29
Nov
Nov
These days the ampersand is used mostly in business names, but is often frowned upon as an alternative to the more general and personal use of ‘and’. The shape of “&” predates the word ampersand by 2,000 years, when Roman scribes wrote in cursive. They wrote the Latin word “et” which means “and”, then started […]
28
Nov
Nov
The parish church of sleepy Lachapelle, dreaming deep in rural southwest France, offers a hidden but seismic surprise to the casual and unsuspecting visitor. In all its humility, the apparently unremarkable, ancient, and respectable church from the outside is a flamboyant show-off on the inside: an ecclesiastical Liberace in full regalia with knobs and twirls. […]
31
Oct
Oct
Ahem, My strongest memories of the god- or science-inspired extremes of the British weather have come from British seaside resorts such as Brighton, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Amlwch, Whitby, and several others. High winds not only happen in Jamaica. Hardly ever depicted in those eponymous seaside postcards is that buffeting, blustering weather, bilious as billy-o, the kind […]
30
Oct
Oct
Trickle down? Level up? Double down? Own up? Bring down? Build up? Hunker down? Cheer up! Pipe down! Speak up! Drill down? Dig up? Cast down? Chin up! Take down? Set up? Swallow down? Throw up? Come down! Meet up! Kneel down! Stand up! Draw down? Pull up? Calm down! Het up! Write down? Check […]
30
Sep
Sep
Ahem, La Hune, our family house in south-west France, looks out proud and far across the Arratz valley, having achieved five-star ratings in all reviews in its first few months as a rental house on Airbnb. This makes my daughter Jessie a “super-host”, along with our neighbour Marlene, who looks after the house and receives […]
22
Sep
Sep
This is the time of the September Equinox, which was once of great importance to farmers at harvest time. Bringing in the harvest before the frost arrived, normally in September or October, was a major challenge. Often farmers needed to keep working on the harvest even after dark. That’s why the Full Moon closest to […]