2020

Do not disturb

This website is sleeping.

Richard Law UTC 2020-12-27 09:00

Words: 155; reading time: 1 minute

Scrapbook for November

Pricks R Us | Captain Foresight | Election eve | Nigel Farage in search of a cause | Deniers

UTC 2020-11-01 02:01

Words: 1,773; reading time: 8 minutes

Cynthia's shade

Hades hath no fury like a poet scorned.

Richard Law UTC 2020-11-10 05:03

Words: 7,333; reading time: 33 minutes

A Considerable Speck

A sentient creature exercising good judgement.

Richard Law UTC 2020-11-05 08:12

Words: 127; reading time: 1 minute

Quote and image of the month for November

Quote: Hermann Hesse, Im Nebel. Image: Giovanni Giacometti, Nebbia (Maloja).

UTC 2020-11-01 05:02

Words: 1,799; reading time: 8 minutes

Scrapbook for October

Social media filtering | Swiss healthcare | Website changes

UTC 2020-10-01 02:01

Words: 606; reading time: 2 minutes

Herbsttag, Autumn Day

Rainer Maria Rilke's farewell to autumn – or, why great poetry should be read slowly.

Richard Law UTC 2020-10-31 12:12

Words: 1,428; reading time: 6 minutes

The end of Covid-19

With a bang, not a whimper.

Richard Law UTC 2020-10-29 06:03

Words: 654; reading time: 2 minutes

Swiss tease

Sleepy Joe? No. Hunter's laptop? No. Burisma? Ignorance is Swiss bliss.

Richard Law UTC 2020-10-25 07:12

Words: 869; reading time: 3 minutes

Goethe's Römische Elegien

The master's midlife crisis. [8 pages]

Richard Law UTC 2020-10-21 06:42

Words: 64,316; reading time: 4 hours 52 minutes

Scrapbook for August

UTC 2020-08-01 02:01

Words: 1,710; reading time: 7 minutes

Sanity-checking insane energy

Does not compute.

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-21 06:22

Words: 1,723; reading time: 7 minutes

Plague notes, ad interim

Where are we and how did we get here?

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-17 12:15

Words: 3,923; reading time: 17 minutes

Updated on 2020-08-20

Butch browsing

Google Chrome, the coding man's browser of choice.

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-14 10:43

Words: 827; reading time: 3 minutes

Updated on 2020-08-14

The lady in waiting

Kamala Harris, the great unwanted – even by Democrats.

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-13 14:14

Words: 638; reading time: 2 minutes

After the Swiss party

2 August: Sunday morning coming down.

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-02 15:23

Words: 1,130; reading time: 5 minutes

Paying the Harvesters

A close look at Léon Augustin Lhermitte's magnificent painting.

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-01 03:05

Words: 4,867; reading time: 22 minutes

Swiss National Day, 1 August

Gottfried Keller's poem Sommernacht.

Richard Law UTC 2020-08-01 03:04

Words: 999; reading time: 4 minutes

Scrapbook for July

The Railway Man prince | Eighteen shades of incompetence

UTC 2020-07-01 02:01

Words: 237; reading time: 1 minute

Hot Romans

The dog days of the Roman Warm Period revisited in the Tibullan guide to climate change.

Richard Law UTC 2020-07-29 09:25

Words: 1,187; reading time: 5 minutes

Born in the USA

The forces of destruction are not at the gates; they were born within them.

Richard Law UTC 2020-07-20 07:13

Words: 1,064; reading time: 4 minutes

Blacking out for Britain

Government by nonsensical directives enforced by law — a bit like COVID-19, in fact.

Richard Law UTC 2020-07-16 16:32

Words: 890; reading time: 4 minutes

Updated on 2020-07-18

Friedrich Rückert's Über alle Gräber

Recovering a particularly poignant poem from the Kindertodtenlieder

Richard Law UTC 2020-07-10 10:55

Words: 1,913; reading time: 8 minutes

Winston Churchill's love of horses

The wartime prime minister was an excellent rider with a lifelong love of horses.

Werner Vogt UTC 2020-07-09 16:15

Words: 950; reading time: 4 minutes

Schubert in da hood

Franz Schubert growing up with family, friends and neighbours in a close-knit community. [8 pages]

Richard Law UTC 2020-07-08 14:24

Words: 25,742; reading time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Updated on 2026-04-01

Scrapbook for June

Lieder evening in Vienna | 'Latest comments' change | Barn wall smiley

UTC 2020-06-01 02:01

Words: 162; reading time: 1 minute

Scrapbook for May

Not the Age of Reason | 'Latest comments' panel | Clap for the NHS | What would Treebeard say?

UTC 2020-05-01 02:01

Words: 848; reading time: 3 minutes

Hidden Schubert

The Schubert materials we can't show you.

Richard Law UTC 2020-05-29 10:44

Words: 930; reading time: 4 minutes

The Atzenbrugg enlightenment

A review of Oliver Woog's book Franz Schubert und sein Freundeskreis in den Schlössern Atzenbrugg und Aumühle.

Richard Law UTC 2020-05-19 09:33

Words: 5,404; reading time: 24 minutes

Franz Schubert und sein Freundeskreis in den Schlössern Atzenbrugg und Aumühle

Announcing a recent book by Oliver Woog, the concert guitarist and Schubert researcher, which throws new light on the party life of the young Schubert crowd.

Richard Law UTC 2020-05-11 10:11

Words: 488; reading time: 2 minutes

Oiling the Swiss paywall media

The Swiss government wants to lubricate the inaccessible with lots of nice slippery money.

Richard Law UTC 2020-05-01 10:44

Words: 1,513; reading time: 6 minutes

Scrapbook for April

Who's that train? | Schubert portrait 'Young Franz Schubert'

UTC 2020-04-01 02:01

Words: 592; reading time: 2 minutes

The American shambles

November: hoping for the least worse, whoever that might be.

Richard Law UTC 2020-04-28 10:44

Words: 989; reading time: 4 minutes

Updated on 2020-04-30

Scrapbook for March

UTC 2020-03-01 02:01

Words: 1,893; reading time: 8 minutes

Purging the planet

A breathing space for the Earth.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-29 10:03

Words: 325; reading time: 1 minute

Exposing yourself to COVID-19

But just a little bit, of course.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-24 15:33

Words: 3,648; reading time: 16 minutes

Updated on 2020-04-01

The Trump insight

COVID-19: the cure must not be worse than the disease.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-23 10:33

Words: 258; reading time: 1 minute

Beyond bananas

Meghan and Harry's message to a grateful world.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-19 16:08

Words: 853; reading time: 3 minutes

Laughing at the afflicted

Shouldn't do it, but we need something to pass the time in our isolation cells.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-18 08:14

Words: 875; reading time: 3 minutes

Quote and image of the month for March

Quote: Conrad Ferdinand Meyer, Säerspruch. Image: Albin Egger-Lienz, Der Sämann.

UTC 2020-03-14 14:02

Words: 469; reading time: 2 minutes

COVID-19: time to start worrying?

Even the normally sunny disposition of Matt Ridley is clouding over. Nobody panic.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-12 13:20

Words: 3,698; reading time: 16 minutes

Updated on 2020-03-26

Sheep Herding for Dummies

The art of letting no crisis go to waste.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-10 10:18

Words: 604; reading time: 2 minutes

The greening of Boris™

Climate sceptic to climate alarmist in six months.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-08 14:20

Words: 314; reading time: 1 minute

Mr Cherry

Certainly gone, but still not forgotten.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-08 10:12

Words: 1,986; reading time: 9 minutes

In praise of maturity

Let's stop listening to the revolting young.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-05 15:43

Words: 1,418; reading time: 6 minutes

Over the waterfall

Avoiding the rending pain of re-enactment.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-02 12:52

Words: 473; reading time: 2 minutes

Mining the data mountain

Putting content online is only the first step – just try and find it again… or bend it like Google.

Richard Law UTC 2020-03-01 09:17

Words: 2,252; reading time: 10 minutes

Scrapbook for February

More COVID-19, among other things | Government by weirdo | Lest we forget | Brexit smoke and mirrors

UTC 2020-02-01 02:01

Words: 1,531; reading time: 6 minutes

Trust me, I'm from MI5

Searching for signs of intelligence in the UK intelligence services. So far, none found.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-25 16:22

Words: 1,446; reading time: 6 minutes

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases

You are a dot on the Blue Marble, now learning to live and die with COVID-19.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-25 11:04

Words: 1,025; reading time: 4 minutes

Updated on 2020-02-26

Social media on the couch

And its users. 'Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.'

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-20 10:25

Words: 2,918; reading time: 13 minutes

Swiss neutrality decoded

Beware the Swiss, bringing encryption equipment.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-14 11:02

Words: 1,850; reading time: 8 minutes

Updated on 2020-02-15

The Swiss news magazine Republik, circling the drain

Good.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-10 11:16

Words: 408; reading time: 1 minute

Du bist die Ruh, swipe right edition

A lonely reader of the New York Review of Books looking for Miss Perfect.

Prudence Crowther UTC 2020-02-09 10:04

Words: 521; reading time: 2 minutes

Du bist die Ruh D 776

Another masterpiece from Friedrich Rückert's Oestliche Rosen (1819/1822), masterfully set to music by Franz Schubert (1823/1826).

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-09 10:04

Words: 3,905; reading time: 17 minutes

Thuringia voted!

Three months ago. The last election worked so well that they had better have another one.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-07 14:04

Words: 1,126; reading time: 5 minutes

Quote and image of the month for February

Quote: Bertolt Brecht, Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters. Image: Albin Egger-Lienz, Mann und Weib.

UTC 2020-02-03 14:17

Words: 1,705; reading time: 7 minutes

17 May, the end of Switzerland?

Jumping from the referendum frying pan into the EU fire.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-01 13:12

Words: 1,048; reading time: 4 minutes

A book burning

The Frankfurt Book Fire of 1758.

Richard Law UTC 2020-02-01 08:02

Words: 1,886; reading time: 8 minutes

Scrapbook for January

Peter Schreier (1935-2019)

UTC 2020-01-01 02:01

Words: 147; reading time: 1 minute

Democratic discontent

The Centre for the Future of Democracy is worried. They will be when the tumbrils get there.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-30 14:22

Words: 1,596; reading time: 7 minutes

Quote and image of the month for January

Quote: Siegfried Lenz, Heimatmuseum. Image: Anshelm Schultzberg, A Winter Morning after a Snowfall in Dalarna.

UTC 2020-01-25 11:13

Words: 478; reading time: 2 minutes

Jägers Liebeslied D 909

Franz von Schober's much ado about nothing sinks without trace, taking Schubert's rubber ring with it.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-24 09:03

Words: 2,860; reading time: 13 minutes

Die Sterne D 939

Musical mission impossible: Leitner's terrible poem and Schubert's attempted rescue.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-20 14:15

Words: 1,895; reading time: 8 minutes

Franz Schubert and Franz von Schlechta

Cracking the door, but just a little bit.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-17 16:43

Words: 4,553; reading time: 20 minutes

Fischerweise D 881

Franz Xaver Freiherr Schlechta von Wssehrd's mediocre poem, rescued by Franz Schubert.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-15 10:21

Words: 4,770; reading time: 21 minutes

Schubert portrait Whac-A-Mole

As soon as we whack one, another one pops up.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-05 10:48

Words: 6,876; reading time: 31 minutes

Updated on 2020-02-16

Ueber allen Gipfeln Ist Ruh' D 768

One genius stands on another's shoulders: Goethe and Schubert.

Richard Law UTC 2020-01-01 08:14

Words: 10,235; reading time: 46 minutes