A small memorial to the Jews deported from Grunewald railway station in Berlin to the concentration camps in World War II. Each part of the platform lists a different chilling deportation. Here someone had put some candles in the shape of the Star of David on one part of the […]
I’ve been living a sheltered and abnormal life in London. In my everyday work almost all my colleagues are thoughtful and reflective, and the working environment generally supportive. I spend plenty of my free time with people for whom gender and equality issues are extremely important, and I’ve spent more […]
I’m staying in the Europäische Akademie Berlin, in the middle of the grand villas of Grunewald in western Berlin. An additional advantage is the huge forest to the south west of here, towards Wannsee. I’ve just returned from a 40 minute run through the forest and around the Grunewaldsee, the […]
I’ve just listened to a speech by CDU member of the Bundestag Eckart von Klaeden about the EU’s role in the world and how important it is to open up our markets. He stated over and over again that there were almost uniquely benefits to Germany to being open to […]
I promise I’ll get back to writing about politics sometime soon, but for the moment the only thing really worth writing about is Berlin. After posting a whole slew of pictures from this morning, I have spent a day doing website work sat on Bernd’s balcony in a very secluded […]
0609 on a Monday. What a thought. The forecast for the day was good; I knew that. The sun was just on the horizon behind the Fernsehturm as my train meandered through Gesundbrunnen and down into the underground platforms of Hauptbahnhof, stark fluorescent lighting and medical cleanliness in fierce juxtaposition […]
I’m heading towards Berlin this afternoon – on the X2000 to Malmö and then on the night train from there to Berlin, that goes on the Trelleborg-Sassnitz ferry. Have never been on a train on a ferry… The crossing is less than 4 hours – much better than the 26 […]
The last few weeks have been manic – far too much to do in the office, and all the preparation for eventually starting as a freelance website designer in the autumn. It’s all very exciting, but tiring too, and blogging has suffered as a result. But the crazy weeks are […]
It seemed like a good idea: some fresh asparagus on a summer weekend. Yet when upon starting to unpack the veg, it turned out we had overlooked the fact that it had been imported from Peru. Why, oh why, do we need to import asparagus from Peru when it will […]
1997 marked the high point. Labour’s brand was strong, the message right for the times. The Mandelson-inspired red square, new Labour, new Britain marked a decisive step forward in UK political marketing – Labour had developed its brand (left image). Things had to become a little more sober from then […]
There’s a logo that seems to be starting to appear everywhere… It’s on the dustbin lorries in Westminster, on the road sweepers’ carts in Lambeth, and, so it seems, it’s all over the world doing all kinds of environmental and transport work – trains, buses, water, environmental services. It’s the […]
I’ve been receiving sinister automated messages on my voicemail for the last few days requesting that I call Westcot Credit Services. I first checked with Vodafone, my network provider, to find out what’s up. I was assured I had no outstanding bills, a fact confirmed by the direct debit payments […]
