A typical London morning (they’re all pretty much similar)

6.30a.m. My bedside radio starts regaling with Radio 4’s Today programme.  I doze, subliminally absorbing the day’s news agenda
6.50a.m. John Humphries incessant rambling questioning, insisting the interviewee gives the answer he wants to hear, in less time than it took to ask the question, irritates me sufficiently to prompt me to start thinking about getting [...]

Decision – I’m off to Ghana

After some thought I’ve told VSO that I prefer the Ghana option (over the Nigerian placement).  My reasoning is basically professional, the role in Kano, northern Nigeria, would have been with a teacher’s training college and the job profile seemed to suggest that quite a lot of experience of education (as an educator) was needed.
The role [...]

The plot against America – Philip Roth

The counter factual premise of “The Plot Against America” is that the anti-Semite Charles Lindberg wins the 1940 presidential election instead of Roosevelt on an anti-war ticket.  The book is written as a memoir, with Mr Roth remembering his childhood in an increasingly besieged 1940s New Jersey Jewish community.
I enjoyed this book, the family under [...]

The Insider – Piers Morgan

The former editor of the Mirror’s book is really quite interesting.  Written as a psuedo-diary (he admits in the introduction that he didn’t actually keep a diary, the book is draw from contemporary notes etc) the book starts with his sacking and then covers the 10 years leading up to it.  Writing with the quick [...]

Offers from VSO!

VSO emailed me today with a couple of offers.  One is for twelve months in Ghana and the other for two years in Northern Nigeria (Kano).  I haven’t had time to study them yet (I had a free dinner in the British Museum tonight with Sharon, but that’s another story) but at the moment my [...]