Nostalgia – the double-edged sword…

photos, hands, hold

The nostalgia industry has become something of a lucrative business. There are now entire TV channels dedicated to repeats of old shows where (if you have time on your hands) you can spend all day watching the likes of Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Kojak, Starsky & Hutch or The Sweeney. There are radio stations which only play golden oldies. Ageing rock bands re-form (sometimes with less than half their original line-up) and go on tour thereby cashing in on the …

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Why Can’t Britain get Over the War?

We are living in tumultuous times, patiently enduring the greatest global crisis most of us will ever live through. We’ve had fear, depression and apathy but I never thought I’d see almost 2,000 die of a new virus in a single day in the UK, with barely an eyebrow raised. We clapped for the brave nurses and doctors; hundreds of whom have been taken by the very virus they fought. Then, on 20th September last year, came a Spitfire tribute. …

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Friday Thread: Hey (Father) Joe, where you going? St Pats Knock, 1976.

Right, many of you won’t make much of this. But if you are anywhere near fifty, you’ll certainly remember the music (taken from the Pound Club, behind Roddy’s and opposite the bus station in Oxford Street, I think. It turns out to be “The Pieces of Eight” in Anne Street) and that unforgettable mid 70s look. For reference the loop section for the chorus features former President of the College, Father Joe Conway, a supremely gentle civilised man who faced his daily …

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