2017
Scrapbook for December
'On the Morning of Christ's Nativity' | You have been warned! | A puzzle we can answer | Every terror cloud has a silver lining | Grumpy Monday | Dim and Dhimmi | Judith: not to be messed with
UTC 2017-12-01 02:01
Words: 845; reading time: 3 minutes
The Windsors: only a matter of time
A grumpy end of year report.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-28 14:16
Words: 1,164; reading time: 5 minutes
A Christmas Carol revisited
The time travel subtleties of Dickens' remarkable classic.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-24 11:15
Words: 2,805; reading time: 12 minutes
Updated on 2023-06-27
21 December: the centenary of Heinrich Böll's birth
Rushing to the post office.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-22 11:33
Words: 555; reading time: 2 minutes
Strategic goals for the UK post Brexit
A least someone in the UK is thinking strategically.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-18 13:37
Words: 183; reading time: 1 minute
Martin Schulz and the New European Order
Berlusconi, Bloom and Beppe were right – just ask the Hungarians.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-16 18:00
Words: 782; reading time: 3 minutes
Rocks, hard places, cherries and unsquared circles
A Swiss view of the Brexit negotiations – as baffled as everyone else.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-16 09:41
Words: 609; reading time: 2 minutes
Brexit: all you need to know so far
Ten days of Dim Theresa. It could have been worse. Actually, no.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-14 16:13
Words: 153; reading time: 1 minute
Ocean plastic – go and preach at the real miscreants
Please can we have our supermarket bags back?
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-14 10:43
Words: 550; reading time: 2 minutes
Here comes the sun
Well, now and again – in winter not so often, but certainly never overnight.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-12 10:30
Words: 601; reading time: 2 minutes
Cooking the goose and the gander
What's sauce for the MSM goose is sauce for the Breitbart gander.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-11 17:46
Words: 463; reading time: 2 minutes
13 December: Saint Lucy's Day
Johann Peter Hebel's classic story Unverhofftes Wiedersehen, 'The Unhoped-for Reunion'.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-11 08:53
Words: 4,067; reading time: 18 minutes
4 December: Saint Barbara's Day
Empirical fact and the triumph of human imagination.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-05 17:07
Words: 2,910; reading time: 13 minutes
Updated on 2017-12-13
The Germanwatch Peruvian shakedown
Taking on Big Coal. Nothing happens till the lawyers get involved.
Richard Law UTC 2017-12-02 09:46
Words: 1,510; reading time: 6 minutes
Scrapbook for November
Don't worry, be happy | Shaping the science agenda | Diana's revenge | Peace at last | Thanksgiving | Dim and dangerous | Site changes | Distraction therapy | Still on your own
UTC 2017-11-01 02:01
Words: 1,331; reading time: 6 minutes
Richard North beyond redemption
A quick glance through the peephole of his padded cell. There's no hope for this one.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-28 11:37
Words: 769; reading time: 3 minutes
Abnormal normals
Mr Climate takes normals to abnormal lengths in pursuit of global warming.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-26 13:33
Words: 4,065; reading time: 18 minutes
Squaring circles in Berlin
Or political Venn diagrams with no overlaps.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-22 11:14
Words: 1,439; reading time: 6 minutes
Updated on 2017-11-27
The UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn
Ten days of conspicuous consumption come to an end. Good riddance.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-21 14:45
Words: 1,024; reading time: 4 minutes
No change, please – we're not Jamaicans
This gripping German soap: we can't stand the tension!
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-20 10:14
Words: 828; reading time: 3 minutes
Sextus and Cynthia, a lovely couple
Just don't invite them to your dinner party.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-14 07:47
Words: 1,978; reading time: 8 minutes
Extreme weather: quite the norm, really
After a sip of the green stuff, Mr Climate gets a little overexcited.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-13 09:17
Words: 707; reading time: 3 minutes
Sheer uselessness
Counting down to Christmas the UK Government way.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-09 16:22
Words: 919; reading time: 4 minutes
Figures of Speech discussion group
Talking amongst ourselves
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-09 13:05
Words: 74; reading time: 1 minute
An outrageous libel of a dead hero 2
Beyond the press reports it's worse than we thought.
Richard Law UTC 2017-11-05 12:16
Words: 29,588; reading time: 2hours 14 minutes
Quote and image of the month for October
Quote: Brian Aldiss, Report on Probability A (1969). Image: William Holman Hunt, The Hireling Shepherd (1851).
UTC 2017-11-01 01:02
Words: 3,116; reading time: 14 minutes
Scrapbook for October
CSI: Las Vegas – Crime Scene Incompetence | More days of autumn | British beer | Stag hunting | The twelve days of autumn | Swiss family picnic | Dice rolling by a skilled opponent | The unseen cost of wind [energy]
UTC 2017-10-01 02:01
Words: 1,269; reading time: 5 minutes
The UK Communications Act 2003
The process is the punishment, yet again. Think on.
Richard Law UTC 2017-10-18 10:53
Words: 761; reading time: 3 minutes
The mystery of Schubert's Unfinished Symphony
A tour of words in single quotation marks, such as 'given', 'acquired', 'stolen', 'hidden', 'lost', 'found', 'unknown' and 'discovered'.
Richard Law UTC 2017-10-17 15:28
Words: 7,214; reading time: 32 minutes
An outrageous libel of a dead hero
Smears and innuendoes come easily to climate scientists.
Richard Law UTC 2017-10-07 11:13
Words: 989; reading time: 4 minutes
Updated on 2017-11-05
Mrs Shopping-List meets Pericles
Not a good match. Even the slogan needs to get a grip.
Richard Law UTC 2017-10-05 11:01
Words: 1,771; reading time: 8 minutes
Updated on 2017-10-06
Quote and image of the month for September
Quote: Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Der Schattenfotograf, 1978. Images: Various, The Cheder.
UTC 2017-09-01 01:02
Words: 326; reading time: 1 minute
Scrapbook for September
Last supper [updated] | A century of progress | Please, Lord, let they handmaid depart in peace (ASAP). | Keeping an eye on the Germans | The school run – alpine style | How to become a published author
UTC 2017-09-01 02:01
Words: 726; reading time: 3 minutes
The Envy-of-the-World™: solution found!
More of it.
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-30 10:21
Words: 752; reading time: 3 minutes
Luddites of the world, unite!
A civilisational reboot in a small Swiss town, now up before the beak.
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-28 10:13
Words: 612; reading time: 2 minutes
Updated on 2017-11-06
The AfD: the uncouth, the amateur, the gormless.
Still better than the others, though.
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-26 10:12
Words: 1,876; reading time: 8 minutes
Updated on 2017-09-30
No change, please – we're German
Waiting for Brünnhilde to finish – but why bother? The ending is always the same.
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-25 09:14
Words: 1,711; reading time: 7 minutes
Updated on 2017-10-17
Still on your own
Wear a bin-bag over your head and a bullet-proof vest.
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-24 09:23
Words: 449; reading time: 2 minutes
Theresa goes shopping in Florence
The shopping-list Prime Minister does the Renaissance.
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-23 12:02
Words: 1,338; reading time: 6 minutes
Goethe's Gotthard obsession
Three long journeys in 22 years, culminating in a pact with the Devil. [3 pages]
Richard Law UTC 2017-09-20 10:16
Words: 31,761; reading time: 2 hours 24 minutes
Quote and image of the month for August
Quotes: Heinrich Heine (1831) and Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1887). Images: Léopold Robert, L'Arrivée des Moissonneurs dans les marais Pontins (1830) and Friedrich Kallmorgen, Erntezeit (1891).
UTC 2017-08-01 01:02
Words: 951; reading time: 4 minutes
Scrapbook for August
Decanting the dregs | That Google diversity thing
UTC 2017-08-01 02:01
Words: 274; reading time: 1 minute
Moral money
Pierre Gauchat's wonderful Swiss banknotes: gone but not forgotten.
Richard Law UTC 2017-08-10 09:09
Words: 2,848; reading time: 12 minutes
Updated on 2017-11-06
Gratitude: the cement of civilisation
Thank you, ancestors, for all you have done for us.
Richard Law UTC 2017-08-08 15:40
Words: 575; reading time: 2 minutes
And is there honey still for tea?
Rupert Brooke, born 130 years ago.
Richard Law UTC 2017-08-07 10:28
Words: 4,455; reading time: 20 minutes
The days of wine and roses
Ernest Dowson, born 150 years ago.
Richard Law UTC 2017-08-04 18:59
Words: 4,946; reading time: 22 minutes
The Gotthard Pass: the heart of Switzerland
Still beating weakly despite all the bypass operations.
Richard Law UTC 2017-08-01 07:00
Words: 13,266; reading time: 60 minutes
Quote and image of the month for July
Quote: Georg Heym, Ophelia, 1911. Image: John Everett Millais, Ophelia, 1851-2.
UTC 2017-07-01 01:02
Words: 1,138; reading time: 5 minutes
Scrapbook for July
The Grenfell fire: the EU fingerprint | Getting the most out of solar panels | What's in a name®? | Planet Snowball with brief warm spells
UTC 2017-07-01 02:01
Words: 493; reading time: 2 minutes
Stephen Hawking speaks
…or not, as the case may be. Either way he's a dummy.
Richard Law UTC 2017-07-04 09:33
Words: 582; reading time: 2 minutes
Updated on 2017-07-10
Dr Weather and Mr Climate
Don't drink the green stuff in the beaker! Too late.
Richard Law UTC 2017-07-03 10:05
Words: 586; reading time: 2 minutes
Updated on 2017-07-03
Winston and his Swiss paintmaker
A review of Champagner mit Churchill, Philipp Gut's account of the friendship between Winston Churchill and his Swiss paint supplier, Willy Sax.
Werner Vogt UTC 2017-07-02 12:50
Words: 921; reading time: 4 minutes
The German connection
100 years ago, on 17 July 1917, the Windsors emerged into a grateful world.
Richard Law UTC 2017-07-01 16:15
Words: 768; reading time: 3 minutes
The total stress of Tom Bombadil
The bit the Lord of the Rings films left behind, thank goodness.
Richard Law UTC 2017-07-01 09:44
Words: 5,795; reading time: 26 minutes
Quote and image of the month for June
Quote: Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. A Story of the French Revolution, 1859. Image: Samuel Bough, London from Shooter's Hill, 1872.
UTC 2017-06-01 01:02
Words: 885; reading time: 4 minutes
Scrapbook for June
Progress Illinois Style | Arnie's smallest audience | Dim and dimmer | Pulling teeth | Summer solstice | Trump: the first five months | North update: no hope | Steady as she goes | Jack of all trades, master of none | The art of political survival | No wheels on her waggon | Tesla – makes your hair stand on end | Hung parliament, unfortunately not properly | Swedish National Day | One proxy reconstruction doth not a denial make. Fifty-eight: probably | Smile, you're on Candid Camera | Lucky Lukens | Enough is enough | Breakfast like an emperor
UTC 2017-06-01 02:01
Words: 3,931; reading time: 17 minutes
Herd management
The knock on the door in the night. It's for your own good. Really.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-25 11:22
Words: 1,220; reading time: 5 minutes
Updated on 2017-06-29
The pursuit of happiness
Not as simple as it sounds, especially in two languages.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-19 10:43
Words: 1,592; reading time: 7 minutes
Updated on 2017-06-20
The other Austrian Economics
The patriotic way to buy your folkwear.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-17 11:10
Words: 789; reading time: 3 minutes
Ransomware: the never-ending story
Don't rely on antivirus software to keep you safe. It won't.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-16 11:21
Words: 866; reading time: 3 minutes
UK sovereignty. Then what?
Some thoughts for laundry-list minds.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-14 07:38
Words: 1,519; reading time: 6 minutes
Maria Theresia, the great Empress
Born 300 years ago on 13 May 2017.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-12 11:55
Words: 3,846; reading time: 17 minutes
The wartime prime minister – shaken and stirred
A review of Jonathan Teplitzky's film Churchill.
Werner Vogt UTC 2017-06-08 10:53
Words: 816; reading time: 3 minutes
The Swiss, God bless 'em!
Cultural appropriation in translation.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-07 07:07
Words: 719; reading time: 3 minutes
Goethe's Heidenröslein
Surviving a little prick.
Richard Law UTC 2017-06-01 11:05
Words: 11,463; reading time: 52 minutes
Updated on 2017-07-25
Scrapbook for May
Still on your own | That Tory manifesto | The path of healing | Our Swiss sunbeam expert writes | The rich: not like us
UTC 2017-05-01 02:01
Words: 846; reading time: 3 minutes
WannaCry – the dust settles (a bit)
This vale of tears, with some shafts of light.
Richard Law UTC 2017-05-20 14:18
Words: 1,434; reading time: 6 minutes
The French, dontcha luv 'em!
No. And neither did Goethe.
Richard Law UTC 2017-05-19 12:53
Words: 733; reading time: 3 minutes
The future of energy in Switzerland
There isn't one. Why is it always the voters who have to stick the tail on this donkey?
Richard Law UTC 2017-05-17 11:24
Words: 406; reading time: 1 minute
Updated on 2017-05-21
Christian Schubart: the prison years
The author of Die Forelle gets taught a lesson. [10 pages]
Richard Law UTC 2017-05-15 18:40
Words: 20,749; reading time: 1 hour 34 minutes
Schubert: Greatest Hits
Pick 'n mix in the sweetshop. Some tips on getting to know Schubert's music.
Richard Law UTC 2017-05-01 14:29
Words: 837; reading time: 3 minutes
Scrapbook for April
Site changes
UTC 2017-04-01 02:01
Words: 175; reading time: 1 minute
Lied auf dem Wasser zu singen
D 774. Great poem. Great music. Two geniuses at work.
Richard Law UTC 2017-04-30 10:01
Words: 5,809; reading time: 26 minutes
Schubert's friend Johann Senn
For some people, being born on the first of April is no joke. [7 pages]
Richard Law UTC 2017-04-24 16:40
Words: 21,195; reading time: 1 hour 36 minutes
Who's afraid of Immanuel Kant?
230 years of the Critique of Pure Reason
Richard Law UTC 2017-04-23 16:38
Words: 648; reading time: 2 minutes
Scrapbook for March
Martin McGuinness | Something that could not have been said ten years ago | Federal Bureau of Indeterminateness | PR, the European disease | Tour d'horizon (desperation edition)
UTC 2017-03-01 02:01
Words: 977; reading time: 4 minutes
On your own
Time for a stiff upper lip. It is, after all, the only anti-terrorist weapon you have.
Richard Law UTC 2017-03-24 13:59
Words: 1,088; reading time: 4 minutes
Too much understanding
Gotthold Lessing's little boy
Richard Law UTC 2017-03-18 16:11
Words: 463; reading time: 2 minutes
Zurich-Petrograd, one-way
A hundred years ago in April, a decisive moment in history.
Richard Law UTC 2017-03-16 18:54
Words: 8,944; reading time: 40 minutes
Updated on 2017-11-19
Schubert: from child to musical genius
It was managed by a job… and a good job, too!
Richard Law UTC 2017-03-01 07:44
Words: 7,123; reading time: 32 minutes
Updated on 2017-03-03
Quote and image of the month for February
Quote: George Steiner, Real Presences, 1989. Image: the new Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
UTC 2017-02-01 01:02
Words: 365; reading time: 1 minute
Scrapbook for February
Jack of all trades… | Site changes | Samoyeds | Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, reloaded | Scandi noir blacker humour | The Envy-of-the-World™, again | The madness of Prince Charlie | Scandi noir black humour | John Bates, whistleblower | Whose side is North on? | Myron Ebell at the GWPF | Sir Detail and friend | Snowflakes of the month
UTC 2017-02-01 02:01
Words: 2,664; reading time: 12 minutes
The Wind in the Willows
A new edition of Kenneth Grahame's classic, beautifully illustrated by David Petersen.
Richard Law UTC 2017-02-14 20:01
Words: 142; reading time: 1 minute
Will the real Schubert please stand up?
Franz Schubert, master of disguise.
Richard Law UTC 2017-02-13 10:57
Words: 3,137; reading time: 14 minutes
Updated on 2025-01-19
CAGW in proportion
The Blaise Pascal guide to Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming.
Richard Law UTC 2017-02-02 08:32
Words: 1,995; reading time: 9 minutes
Finding Trumpy
The four unaccounted hours of the most powerful man on earth.
Richard Law UTC 2017-02-01 10:51
Words: 239; reading time: 1 minute
Alistair Cooke: urbane BBC opiner
If only Letter from America had taken comments.
Richard Law UTC 2017-02-01 07:32
Words: 2,870; reading time: 13 minutes
The media: Nixon's revenge
Fings ain't wot they used to be. Better get used to it and stop grumbling.
Richard Law UTC 2017-02-01 07:33
Words: 1,104; reading time: 5 minutes
Quote and image of the month for January
Quote: Wilhelm Busch, [Sahst du das wunderbare Bild von Brouwer?]. Image: Adriaen Brouwer, Die Operation am Rücken.
UTC 2017-01-01 01:02
Words: 281; reading time: 1 minute
Scrapbook for January
Wimmin's busts | Faking it | Swiss snowflakes losing it | George Mikes: an oldie but goldie | Two simple questions that men cannot answer | The poor Hamburger, the poor Berliner | Rail travel costs
UTC 2017-01-01 02:01
Words: 1,352; reading time: 6 minutes
Figures of Speech discussion group
Talking amongst ourselves
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-24 07:32
Words: 82; reading time: 1 minute
Updated on 2017-01-27
Bedlam through the peephole
A glimpse of the enlightened inmates up close.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-23 11:05
Words: 863; reading time: 3 minutes
Updated on 2017-01-26
Trembling above the abyss
Goethe conquering one of his demons in Strasbourg Cathedral.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-22 13:50
Words: 1,166; reading time: 5 minutes
Climate scientists
Some are good, but most are just a basket of disreputables. Would you buy a used thermometer from any of them?
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-21 12:06
Words: 1,679; reading time: 7 minutes
Updated on 2017-02-05
Pie-in-the-sky charts
Just run that decarbonisation thing past us again, would you?
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-19 17:59
Words: 748; reading time: 3 minutes
Updated on 2017-02-04
We'll do it our way
Blaming the Amis the European way.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-19 10:26
Words: 1,004; reading time: 4 minutes
Franz Peter Schubert's family
Marking the 220th anniversary of the birth of the composer Franz Peter Schubert.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-18 16:02
Words: 2,713; reading time: 12 minutes
Charlie to the rescue
The future King saves the world with a stroke of his pen and becomes a peer-reviewed prince.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-15 11:33
Words: 944; reading time: 4 minutes
Updated on 2017-01-23
Blacking up for beginners
The harmless pleasures of byegone days.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-15 11:27
Words: 1,235; reading time: 5 minutes
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles
220 years and still going strong – well, some of it at least.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-09 08:43
Words: 4,734; reading time: 21 minutes
Updated on 2017-02-14
Facing facts in the post-fact era
Few facts, not much truth and plenty of fake news.
Richard Law UTC 2017-01-03 09:32
Words: 2,459; reading time: 11 minutes