A thousand regrets The blossoms were ravenous, and wild.They swallowed a streetlight and turned into a hugeglowing dandelion, snatching passers-byin their intimate net of shadows.  No one remembered how to approach such a vicious thing. Finally it fell into a mosaicof shriveled tissue, gasping in the acrid glare. All summer the wind was herding voicesbehind its … Continue reading Terra damnata

In 1803, the poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote to a friend about his relish at the prospect of being invaded by Napoleon Bonaparte. “As to me, I think, the Invasion must be a Blessing,” he said, “For if we do not repel it, & cut them to pieces, we are a vile sunken … Continue reading How Napoleon made the British

This article was published by The Critic on March 10th 2021. There are few more evocative images of modernity than the glittering skyscrapers of Tokyo. It’s easy to forget that Japan’s cities used to consist largely of timber structures up until the mid-twentieth century. It was only after the nightmarish final months of the Second … Continue reading The age of mass timber: why we should build in wood

There was an interesting story in Politico last weekend about “Euro-English,” and a Swedish academic who wants to make it an official language. Marko Modiano, a professor at the University of Gävle, says the European Union should stop using British English for its documents and communications, and replace it with the bastardised English which is actually spoken in … Continue reading “Euro-English”: A thought experiment