Recently I had a fascinating discussion about feminism with a reader of this blog. He expressed the view that belief in feminism meant believing (doubtless among other things) that women should have the same opportunities as men. What are these opportunities, he wondered? Following the Lionesses’...
In December 2020 I reviewed my Books of the Year here: https://www.penelopewallace.com/books-2020/ giving the award for Most Enjoyable Read to Becky Chambers’ “The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet.” I have now just completed the Wayfarers tetralogy of which that was the first. Despite the impression...
Last month I went to Hull for the weekend. I enjoyed an interesting guided tour round Hull city centre – obviously this is a loved city with a spirit of independence and creativity - but the reason for my visit was to attend the AGM of...
Back in the 1930s, a Midlands solicitor and his wife commissioned the making of an expensive dolls’ house as a birthday present for their elder daughter Ursula. On the day, her father sent the child on an errand to the room where it had been...
(Once again, apologies for lateness.) This week a fairly depressing and urgent IPCC report was issued - see here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60984663) We can try to battle climate change by challenging the government and campaigning for better insulation, more wind farms etc. And/or we can try to battle climate change...
It is or has been alleged that the Inuit people have a large number of words for snow, presumably different types of snow. I was going to write a post about how this theory is connected, if at all, to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, also known as...
I was planning to get back to blogging, honest, but life has been busy. But here are a few thoughts about the topic on everyone's mind; they're not likely to be better than anyone else's. Practically speaking, it makes absolutely no difference how much I express...
The following is unashamedly partisan. There is a well-known TV current affairs talk show in the US called “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Just before Christmas my esteemed publisher and fellow-author CS (Caz) Woolley drew my attention to a Youtube excerpt from it, in which...
Here I sit on Christmas Eve, and I haven't wrapped my presents yet, so I hope all will forgive me bringing back a post from December 2016, when I said: I would like to write a few words about Nahum Tate (1652-1715). The Wikipedia article on him...
Many people took up new hobbies during lockdown, eighteen months ago. One young man (real name Will Chirag, but now known to millions as Chigs) decided to take up baking. On Tuesday 23rd November, he amazingly reached the final of the Great British Bake-Off, which is...