SCENE ONE: (A changing room of a cricket club some time in the 1990s.) Two of the older players are discussing vegetable gardening. A younger man, overhearing their conversation, remarks sarcastically, “Grow-your-own. I bet that must save you loads of money.” Seen from that narrow angle it does all look slightly ridiculous. If you are […]
Author: Lincoln Allison
The Assessment of Academic Performance
In a lifetime as a self-appointed “essayist” I have published over a thousand articles. There are all kinds of ambiguities about that figure including revisions and syndications, but it a rough indication. Mostly they were part of continuing series and the vast majority fell “still-born from the press” to use David Hume’s rather chilling phrase. […]
Going Soft on Communism in the Sun
When a late change of destination had us heading for Cuba one of my daughters-in-law set up a spoof “Free Lincoln” campaign on social media in recognition of my robustly anti-Communist views. She needn’t have feared: Cuba seems entirely relaxed about the views of its tourists. It has to be since it needs […]
On Sporting Retirement
My most longstanding friend laughed when I told him I had retired from playing cricket. His socks did not come off, but he spluttered into his beer. I half-expected this reaction as he is seventy one and I am rapidly approaching my seventy first birthday so I half-accepted that the situation was laughable. I […]
In Praise of the Homeland
Two households: one moving home, the other fancying a couple of shows in London. Therefore we had four granddaughters in the house. Why not go away? – the car has seven seats, after all. So we set off for Garstang (where else?). But first we went to Blackpool. The tide was out, lashing against […]
Marriage
Marriage Wholesome Handsome Honest Sharp-tongued Wife Gentle Eternal Loving Intimate Touch Couldn’t Tolerate Imagine Contemplate Life without you (She was lying on her back snoring gently, her hand resting on me when these words came to me.)
The Fundamental Flaws in Internationalism
As I was leaving the polling station having voted in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union my eldest son was passing on his bicycle. Having ascertained what I had done he berated me, albeit jovially, mentioning in particular his difficulty in recruiting adequate British staff for his niche in the electronic […]
Jobexit Strategies
My first boss, the chairman of my department when I was a young lecturer, was Wilfrid Harrison. Even though there was approximately forty years difference in our ages I would have described Wilfrid as a friend. He was a distinguished and influential figure in many ways: the first person to be appointed as teaching […]
In the Lost Land of Middlesex
County of Middlesex: note that this essay does not concern itself with the county of that name in Connecticut, nor with those in Massachusetts, Virginia or Ontario. It is about Middlesex in England. Middlesex: “Land of the Middle Saxons”. Even at its largest extent, before 1888, Middlesex was the second smallest county in England. Only […]
Notes on the Cotswold Way
I just finished walking the Cotswold Way with a friend, Neil Goodban. We did it on a day-by-day basis over slightly more than a year except for the last two sections which we did in two consecutive days. We started in Chipping Camden and ended in Bath, though it is not just possible but […]