My weekly collection of the provocative, intriguing, or curious, in a world where the house is falling down. The contextual, the cultural, and other things that catch my eye.

  • The Victorian story about Xmas was about hunger. Sitting behind the food piled high on the tables was a fear of starvation.
  • I try to avoid the B-word here. But this Brexit pastiche, in the style of the great Irish humourist Flann O’Brien, is a thing of beauty.
  • Need to get this sorted out once and for all. Say after me, Die Hard is a Christmas film.

This is the last Sixes or Sevens of the year. The next one will be out on January 3rd.

“The whole world’s at sixes and sevens, and why the house hasn’t fallen down about our ears long ago is a miracle to me.” (Thornton Wilder)