Rant of the day

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS I got some good Christmas presents this year. Top of the list, from my children, was a new espresso coffee machine to rep...

2010 Since the main event is on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day in Denmark is a day for sleeping in late, sitting around in your pyjamas and ge...

CHRISTMAS The evening of Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day itself, is the big event in Scandinavia. I am sitting here, writing this w...

DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL Congress is to be admired for ending the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy, whereby o...

FROZEN PIPES Our water pipes froze last night. Not everywhere, thank goodness. The main line lies deep underground, and comes into our boile...

AIRPORT CHAOS Everybody knows that there is bad weather in Europe at the moment. But why are some airports harder hit than others? Why, in p...

AGEING IN JAPAN (AND ELSEWHERE) I have just got around to reading the Economist's 20 November survey on ageing in Japan. It is sobering....