Platonic Morality in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
Gandalf never tired of remarking that there was more to Mr. Bilbo Baggins than meets the eye. One assumes that Gandalf was alluding to his bravery, his courage and his reluctant tenacity - this may...
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Just a Taste: When Will 'True Blood' Quit the Queer Baiting?
Image copyright: HBO Night time. A man stands in front of a window, listening to the thundering rain outside. He slowly opens his shirt and gazes outside, until he notices another presence in the room...
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Sex, Drugs and Buddha: Tales of a Hollywood Supermensch
The Chicken was My Idea. Is one possible title for the autobiography of Shep Gordon, long-time manager of shock rocker Alice Cooper. But he could equally pick Cary Grant Stole My Cat, Making Yak Tea...
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Life In the Arts Lane - Week 84 - Season Finale
The dust is rising as the last few struts are removed and packed up for onward travel,The Dutch are licking their wounds following another World Cup penalty shoot-out failure, and a disconsolate mood...
View ArticleWhy I Love Music People
My name is Paul. I work in music. I have done for the last 15 years. I read a lot about the business of music and 'the industry's' hopes and ambitions of creating a sustainable financial model from a...
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Review: Richard Armitage in The Crucible, Old Vic Theatre
Our former Education Secretary Michael Gove may not have liked it on our syllabus but The Crucible remains one of the most important and influential plays of the twentieth century. Arthur Miller's...
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Two Tones of Horace Panter: 'I'm Making the Invisible Visible'
"It was something of a shock when The Specials became famous," Horace Panter tells me. "We started off doing things at our own pace, and then, after playing in pubs and clubs, we got a recording...
View ArticleThe Beating of a Hidden Heart
"Marriage is the easiest chapter in the books of fiqh, but the hardest chapter in our society today." - Imam Suhaib Webb The number of people in England and Wales living with or married to someone from...
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10 of the Best from Loch Ness Film Festival 2014
So much can be gained in five to ten minutes, and the The Loch Ness film Festival which begins its fourth annual run at the end of the month celebrates this with a phenomenal range of outstanding...
View ArticleAlone Amongst Many
I don't know when it started but I've recently noticed when I'm talking to someone they don't ask me one question, not one. I don't even want to talk about me but for God's sake I'm sitting in front of...
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Millions of Humans Are Sold Every Year - It's Time We Face the Truth and Do...
Already frazzled from a week of screenings I had trekked across blocks of Manhattan to attend one of the last few parties at the New York Indian Film Festival, where I found myself talking to the...
View ArticleDo You Know Your Jigger From Your Muddler?
Are you master of the Margarita, boss of the Bellini or ruler of the Rob Roy? You could be exactly what Jamie Oliver's Drinks Tube are looking for with their brand new competition - Jamie Oliver's...
View ArticleOn Officially Becoming Erotic, Part Two
When reading a poem to a total stranger, one on one, which uses the noble civic act of blood donation as a tool for unambiguous sexual persuasion, it is difficult to know where to look. Do you go for...
View Article'Generation Create': Their Rise & What They Can Teach Us
"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes." William James Back in 1991, Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland captured a moment and hit a...
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Empty Suits - Beth Cullen
Beth Cullen has lived a double life, at least professionally. She gained a first class honours degree in sculpture at John Moores University in Liverpool in 1994, and a subsequent post-graduate degree...
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Neil Young on the Edge of Fire
Neil Young chose mostly songs of love and conciliation at his first-ever concert this week in Istanbul. Like the rare July rain that fell, the sentiment was a relief from the violence that smoulders...
View ArticlePoliticians Suck on Twitter
Nick Clegg's tweet on Wednesday in which he mocked the Daily Mail (https://twitter.com/nick_clegg/status/489363852287803392) was perfect. It was funny and it made a point. It got thousands of retweets...
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Is Kanye's Talent Big Enough to Back Up His Ego ?
Kanye is one of the most talked about musicians of our time - but is it for the right reasons? His fabulous set at the Wireless festival had the likes of Naomi Campbell and the Arsenal football squad...
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Elvis Costello - Worth the Kew
Almost 30 years ago, I picked up a cassette that change my life. A photocopied yellow insert listed a whole load of unreleased, well call a spade a spade, bootlegged tracks. A singer songwriter I was...
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A New Breed: The Best Breaking Bands in 2014- Calling All Cars & Shrine
This is the first in a series of New Breed blogs introducing some of my favourite breaking bands that have passed by my radar in 2014. Every summer hails the emergence of a new breed of young, up and...
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