As tends to happen in busy households, we were reading different bits of the newspaper over supper as a prelude to converging on the crossword.   Nicky turned a page and, looking at a large photograph, exclaimed ‘I know him!’. The photograph was of a special needs assistant in the north London primary school Nicky taught…

I’m relying on the internet here, which as we all know is far from being the most trustworthy of information sources.  A ‘promise of barmen’, a ‘bench of bishops’, a ‘rookery of clerks’, an ‘observance of hermits’, an ‘alley of clowns’: I can understand those collective nouns and they have a reassuringly eccentric feel.  It…

Several years ago, I was at a large conference dinner in Beijing. In a break between courses, a choir of Chinese children sang to us – a medley of songs tailored for their global audience. Amongst the more culturally incongruous of songs was their rendition of ‘Danny Boy’. As it happened, I’d found myself sitting…