Laurie Graham

This is Trevor Phillips. Since 2006 he has headed the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. He is a man who supports freedom of speech. Until you say something he doesn’t like. He is as fine an example as you’ll find of the gobsmacking hyprocrisy of the Politically Correct. This week Mr Phillips’s organisation began county court…

As my regular reader knows I’m an avid follower of David Patrick Columbia’s New York Social Diary and have introduced several friends to its considerable pleasures. So much so that one of them suggested I should launch a Venice Social Diary. After all, there are some weeks when Mr F and I can hardly hear ourselves…

It’s 10am and I’m at my desk, about to start work. Truly. I mean, I’ve been up since 6.00. But here’s the thing. This is Italy. See, I met my friend Mim for an early morning walk – we like to go along the Zattere, west to east, first one to dive into a turning…

Every year August Italian-style takes me by surprise. Everything closes, from Sonia the candle lady to Tonolo, the purveyor of fruit tarts. There’s nowhere to buy flowers, nowhere to get a photocopy made. And this morning Mr Bassich the fish man informed me he’s closing Saturday until September. Our building is practically empty, the builders who are…

We’re just back from a week in the lunatic asylum formerly known as the United Kingdom. From time to time Mr F and I think of making our home there again some day. Then we read that the Avon and Somerset police force are issuing headscarves for its female officers to wear when they have to…

We’re off to England tomorrow, for a week’s vacation, and as we’ll be in London on Sunday morning, with an important brunch commitment that prevents us from attending Divine Liturgy at the Russian Cathedral (not much change out of 3 hours), I thought I’d look for somewhere else to worship. We’ll be just across the river from a whole…

A remarkable hail storm last night that made me fearful for the old and wonky panes of glass in the doors between my study and the altana deck. Friends coming in from the airport by boat had to shelter under the Rialto Bridge until the storm had passed. All in all a good, summery start…

It’s been a while since I did a good old Italian paper chase. I should have realised I was overdue for one.This morning I failed even to reach first base, but I did get to see a part of the city I haven’t been to in years. To begin at the beginning: Mr F and I…

Ever get that feeling that deja blogged feeling? I’m just so hot I can’t be bothered going through my archives to see what I’ve already said on the subject of July 4. My position (as sole non-American, head cook and bottle-washer at tomorrow’s celebration) is that I’m okay about it. We had a tiff, about independence and…

We chose to live in this neighbourhood because it’s a place where normal life is still possible. Within a half mile radius we can buy our daily necessities which means we’re a deal better off than friends with ritzy San Marco addresses. But Dorsoduro is changing too. It seems like every time a lease expires…