Fagin as depicted by Joseph Clayton Clark, aka Kyd (1889)
Fagin as depicted by Joseph Clayton Clark, aka Kyd (1889)
2,283 words
[S]tanding over them, with a toasting-fork in his hand, was a very old shrivelled Jew, whose villainous-looking and repulsive face was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair. — Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist
All my dearest companions have always been villains and thieves. — Fagin, “I’m Reviewing the Situation,” from Oliver! (more…)
Keir Starmer, likely the next PM of the United Kingdom. (Official UK Parliament photo)
Keir Starmer, likely the next PM of the United Kingdom. (Official UK Parliament photo)
2,110 words
You can’t appease everyone
When Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was paying attention at Reigate Grammar School in the 1970s and I wasn’t, he may have come across that old conundrum; What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? (It’s an illegitimate question, by the way, due to its inappropriate use of temporality, but that’s for another day.) If he was not previously aware of this intellectual teaser, he will be now. (more…)