2019

Scrapbook for December

Legitimacy restored

UTC 2019-12-01 02:01

Words: 239; reading time: 1 minute

Schubert in love

Four trembling hands in F minor.

Richard Law UTC 2019-12-21 08:16

Words: 4,864; reading time: 22 minutes

Limericks in German

Liebesgrüsse aus Limerick: A suitable case for treatment.

Richard Law UTC 2019-12-18 16:44

Words: 614; reading time: 2 minutes

Chillin' with the Kinskys

Joseph von Spaun touches his forelock.

Richard Law UTC 2019-12-18 08:02

Words: 8,827; reading time: 40 minutes

Quote and image of the month for December

Quote: Werner Bergengruen, The Shepherds. Image: Jules Bastien-Lepage, The Annunciation to the Shepherds.

UTC 2019-12-16 07:13

Words: 1,110; reading time: 5 minutes

13 December Saint Lucy's Day

What's in a name? From obscure beginnings to theological eminence.

Richard Law UTC 2019-12-10 09:12

Words: 9,712; reading time: 44 minutes

Comments on Figures of Speech

A new plaything for our readers – not just for Christmas, either.

Richard Law UTC 2019-12-01 14:16

Words: 853; reading time: 3 minutes

Scrapbook for November

In the bleak midwinter | 240 years ago today | The illustrated Schubert collection | A Boris™ Johnson lie tracker

UTC 2019-11-01 02:01

Words: 764; reading time: 3 minutes

Wrecking the Brexit Party brand

Nigel breaks his new toy.

Richard Law UTC 2019-11-12 13:27

Words: 1,012; reading time: 4 minutes

Updated on 2019-11-13

Dice throwing for beginners

The inscrutable UK election on 12 December.

Richard Law UTC 2019-11-04 17:32

Words: 723; reading time: 3 minutes

All Souls' Day 2019

2 November in the words of Rainer Maria Rilke.

Richard Law UTC 2019-11-02 14:22

Words: 660; reading time: 3 minutes

Quote and images of the month for November

Quote: Robert Frost, The Star Splitter. Images: The Orion constellation.

UTC 2019-11-01 07:27

Words: 1,602; reading time: 7 minutes

Scrapbook for October

Citation functionality changes | That Brexit Deal thingy | A geological excursion | Greta Thunberg: climate victim (2)

UTC 2019-10-01 02:01

Words: 1,260; reading time: 5 minutes

Climate facts and a Climate Credo

Essential tools for surviving the Gretaceous era.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-30 14:22

Words: 1,048; reading time: 4 minutes

Boris™ blusters on

The terror of the empty ditch on Halloween: is the corpse still walking the earth?

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-29 11:04

Words: 855; reading time: 3 minutes

Thuringia has voted!

Another rip in the increasingly tattered fabric of Germany. Still no change though – yet.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-28 11:14

Words: 1,082; reading time: 4 minutes

Hate speech sanitizer

A simple tool for those who don't want to cause offence. 'So shines a good deed in a naughty world'.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-26 16:14

Words: 1,032; reading time: 4 minutes

Switzerland has voted!

Be still my beating heart. Or, even better, be young and be green.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-20 19:19

Words: 500; reading time: 2 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-21

Quote and image of the month for October

Quote: Georg Trakl, Verklärter Herbst. Image: Peder Severin Krøyer, Wine Harvest in the Tyrol.

UTC 2019-10-18 10:17

Words: 614; reading time: 2 minutes

Another Schubert portrait turns up

Well, its got the specs at least, but nothing else.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-17 07:19

Words: 1,477; reading time: 6 minutes

Dividing the two Irelands

More at stake than the administrative fudge of a 'backstop'.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-15 14:09

Words: 1,258; reading time: 5 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-20

The green daydream

A 20-second animated glimpse into the psychopathology of the green mind.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-14 09:05

Words: 2,267; reading time: 10 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-15

The quince

Still inedible after two and a half millennia.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-08 14:03

Words: 1,228; reading time: 5 minutes

Green steering charges

Bad if they don't work, terrible if they do.

Richard Law UTC 2019-10-04 14:09

Words: 3,071; reading time: 13 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-05

Scrapbook for September

UTC 2019-09-01 02:01

Words: 1,273; reading time: 5 minutes

A Swiss simpleton's guide to Global Warming

More fakery from MeteoSwiss, created for and by simpletons.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-29 14:28

Words: 1,010; reading time: 4 minutes

A Schwanengesang website

Will this delusion ever end? Doesn't look like it.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-29 10:08

Words: 781; reading time: 3 minutes

The trembling aspen

A look at the literary and musical life of a Populus tremula, with a contribution from Franz Schubert.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-27 14:12

Words: 7,116; reading time: 32 minutes

Updated on 2025-07-28

Boris™ in the bunker

The end cannot come soon enough for the incredible one.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-19 11:16

Words: 1,272; reading time: 5 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-07

David Cameron

Risen from the crypt but still not getting it.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-18 08:43

Words: 937; reading time: 4 minutes

Updated on 2019-09-19

Quote and image of the month for September

Quote: Rudolf Hagelstange Bei den schwarzen Baptisten. Image: Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With.

UTC 2019-09-17 13:02

Words: 1,928; reading time: 8 minutes

The New Age dawns in the EU

Social engineering in the service of the European Way of Life.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-14 14:03

Words: 972; reading time: 4 minutes

Dr Rita Steblin

An obituary notice for the Beethoven and Schubert scholar.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-13 10:13

Words: 320; reading time: 1 minute

The European Green Deal

Double Dutch: for 'Deal' read 'Diktat'.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-11 11:27

Words: 444; reading time: 2 minutes

Franz Schubert and Ludwig Rellstab

Yet more Schwanengesang nonsense. Seven execrable poems, six desperate settings, one super hit.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-09 14:27

Words: 9,402; reading time: 42 minutes

Updated on 2020-10-22

No change in Sachsen and Brandenburg

State elections in Germany: All quiet on the eastern front – and everywhere else for that matter.

Richard Law UTC 2019-09-02 14:18

Words: 1,174; reading time: 5 minutes

Scrapbook for August

Tempting fate | The Dam Busters | Contempt karma

UTC 2019-08-01 02:01

Words: 312; reading time: 1 minute

German solidarity

Sticking it to the rich.

Richard Law UTC 2019-08-29 17:22

Words: 1,449; reading time: 6 minutes

The chestnut tree at the gate

How to learn German in nine days.

Richard Law UTC 2019-08-28 09:27

Words: 2,321; reading time: 10 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-04

Heinrich Heine and Franz Schubert

Two worlds collide.

Richard Law UTC 2019-08-26 09:07

Words: 6,392; reading time: 29 minutes

News from the bunker

The Swiss People's Party readies itself for the next election. Are they mad?

Richard Law UTC 2019-08-20 09:47

Words: 299; reading time: 1 minute

Franz Schubert and Heinrich Heine

Dismantling Schwanengesang — and about time, too.

Richard Law UTC 2019-08-14 17:12

Words: 18,353; reading time: 1 hour 23 minutes

Updated on 2019-09-15

Quote and image of the month for August

Quote: Arthur Schopenhauer Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung. Image: Jan Sanders van Hemessen, The Extraction of the Stone of Madness.

UTC 2019-08-01 07:32

Words: 774; reading time: 3 minutes

Swiss National Day, 1 August

Alphorns in high places.

Richard Law UTC 2019-08-01 07:12

Words: 614; reading time: 2 minutes

Scrapbook for July

Boris™ again | Remainers still at the controls | On the moon | Carl Gustaf saves the planet

UTC 2019-07-01 02:01

Words: 330; reading time: 1 minute

Boris™ blusters

A ten-minute rhetorical shambles from the new UK Solon.

Richard Law UTC 2019-07-27 13:14

Words: 5,239; reading time: 23 minutes

Boris™

Start as you mean to go on – with a shambles.

Richard Law UTC 2019-07-24 09:30

Words: 458; reading time: 2 minutes

Nothing has been learned

Looking in vain for some backbone in dealing with Iran.

Richard Law UTC 2019-07-21 09:22

Words: 576; reading time: 2 minutes

Matter and light

Clearing away legacy thinking about colour.

Richard Law UTC 2019-07-19 12:22

Words: 2,068; reading time: 9 minutes

Catullus and Lesbia

The arc of a love-hate affair. [3 pages]

Richard Law UTC 2019-07-16 14:01

Words: 25,956; reading time: 1 hour 57 minutes

Scrapbook for June

Boris the Card | Lindenbaum | The choice is theirs | News from the asylum | The last insanity

UTC 2019-06-01 02:01

Words: 863; reading time: 3 minutes

Why does the Devil have all the best tunes?

Because he has the best people writing them.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-24 13:26

Words: 547; reading time: 2 minutes

The Green-Red media infestation in Germany

Mixing green and red makes brown – no arguing with that.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-22 14:13

Words: 985; reading time: 4 minutes

Getting down with the kids

Swiss climate propaganda for little ones of all ages.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-21 17:21

Words: 285; reading time: 1 minute

Schubert the Insignificant

Time to get rid of the 'Circles of Friends'. While we are about it, let's cast a gimlet eye on the Schubertiaden, those instruments of exploitation and oppression.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-21 08:21

Words: 6,435; reading time: 29 minutes

Goethe on ice

Showing off in Frankfurt and Weimar.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-16 08:22

Words: 4,333; reading time: 19 minutes

Updated on 2019-11-13

Could a UK prime minister be worse than Theresa May?

We are about to find out. The dreary political months in prospect in the UK.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-10 10:43

Words: 1,044; reading time: 4 minutes

Diving deep into Goethe's Der Fischer

Keeping cool on the bottom with the eighteen year-old Franz Schubert.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-08 16:51

Words: 8,922; reading time: 40 minutes

Updated on 2019-06-12

How many people listen to Schubert's music these days?

Not many.

Richard Law UTC 2019-06-02 14:03

Words: 1,945; reading time: 8 minutes

Scrapbook for May

Calm and contented | Doris Day | Seen recently in passing

UTC 2019-05-01 02:01

Words: 293; reading time: 1 minute

The European Parliament election 2019

No comfort for Brexiters as the green-red tsunami rolls on.

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-27 09:07

Words: 763; reading time: 3 minutes

Updated on 2019-05-27

The Tory party at prayer

They are going to need all the divine intervention they can get.

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-26 13:09

Words: 911; reading time: 4 minutes

Not a portrait of Franz Schubert

Let's sort it all out, once and for all.

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-23 08:21

Words: 9,494; reading time: 43 minutes

Updated on 2019-05-28

Franz Schubert's Mensch

What did the preacher in Zseliz mean?

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-13 08:42

Words: 4,697; reading time: 21 minutes

Updated on 2019-05-14

19 May: Another day, another referendum

Another act of Swiss obeisance to its international partners.

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-06 09:12

Words: 990; reading time: 4 minutes

Updated on 2019-05-26

5 May 1799: A little local difficulty in Switzerland

220 years ago in the land of neutrality, peace and compromise.

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-05 15:07

Words: 8,149; reading time: 37 minutes

Updated on 2019-05-08

Quote for the first day of May

From romance to realism

Richard Law UTC 2019-05-01 10:21

Words: 523; reading time: 2 minutes

Scrapbook for April

Blending in | David Lama | Sunday morning coming down | Lest we forget | To leave or not to leave…

UTC 2019-04-01 02:01

Words: 1,339; reading time: 6 minutes

Walpurgisnacht

Chimney breasts – bottoms, too. Can Walpurgisnacht survive the #metoo era?

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-28 10:03

Words: 352; reading time: 1 minute

Two fabled stones in Graubünden

A walk on the wild side to Saint Zeno's Stone and the Baby Stone, both currently gathering moss.

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-24 19:06

Words: 3,815; reading time: 17 minutes

Updated on 2019-04-26

Pollen

Earlier and more pollen – another nail in our climate coffin.

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-17 11:15

Words: 2,768; reading time: 12 minutes

Notre Dame: What now?

Knock it down and build something better.

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-16 13:53

Words: 1,124; reading time: 5 minutes

Updated on 2019-04-17

Isaiah the Obscured

Where is he when we need him?

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-15 12:43

Words: 5,022; reading time: 22 minutes

Updated on 2019-10-30

All things Winterreise

An impressive new website for the Schubert/Müller song cycle.

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-11 08:07

Words: 302; reading time: 1 minute

Updated on 2019-07-16

Scientists – dontcha luv em?

Not much.

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-03 12:04

Words: 5,729; reading time: 26 minutes

Updated on 2019-04-20

Switzerland

All rocks and hard places at the moment. The old Switzerland has gone, but can the new one survive?

Richard Law UTC 2019-04-01 10:04

Words: 5,722; reading time: 26 minutes

Updated on 2019-07-28

Scrapbook for March

Pete North: defiant to the end

UTC 2019-03-01 02:01

Words: 344; reading time: 1 minute

Heloise Höchner's first and last love

That dithering, heartless narcissist, Franz Grillparzer.

Richard Law UTC 2019-03-20 12:04

Words: 22,876; reading time: 1 hour 43 minutes

Updated on 2025-02-01

A farewell to Google

The new Figures of Speech site search.

Richard Law UTC 2019-03-04 17:50

Words: 1,691; reading time: 7 minutes

Scrapbook for February

New: citation function | Let them eat plastic | http/https on Figures of Speech

UTC 2019-02-01 02:01

Words: 598; reading time: 2 minutes

Wilhelm Müller's 'three suns'

Memories of Die Winterreise in the current northern hemisphere cold snap.

Richard Law UTC 2019-02-01 11:04

Words: 1,197; reading time: 5 minutes

Scrapbook for January

Brexit: Are we there, yet? | Why was this website taken offline etc.?

UTC 2019-01-01 02:01

Words: 541; reading time: 2 minutes

In praise of simplicity

Francis Jammes' Prayer to go to Paradise with the Donkeys.

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-29 14:45

Words: 1,318; reading time: 5 minutes

Speaking in tongues through a glass darkly

Bernard-Henri Lévy – madness mangled.

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-27 16:36

Words: 1,613; reading time: 7 minutes

Wer böpperlet a der chammer a?

Burns Night, 25 January. Night-time pranks, Swiss style.

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-25 14:23

Words: 724; reading time: 3 minutes

Doris Leuthard: smiling through

A review of Werner Vogt's new biography of a Swiss political superstar.

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-24 11:04

Words: 5,387; reading time: 24 minutes

Brexit: the end is in sight

But what end would that be? Who knows?

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-17 11:12

Words: 520; reading time: 2 minutes

Dass sie hier gewesen D 775: Rückert and Schubert

Two lyrical geniuses at work.

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-16 15:29

Words: 2,828; reading time: 12 minutes

Friedrich Rückert – Kindertodtenlieder

Blogging rhymes of passage through the dark forest of shades.

Richard Law UTC 2019-01-13 10:39

Words: 27,368; reading time: 2hours 4 minutes

Updated on 2020-07-11