Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer principally known for her novels and short stories while her TED talks on ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ [1] and ‘We Should All Be Feminists' [2] are widely viewed. Her most well-known novel is ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ [3] which deals with Biafran independence and the ensuing… Continue reading The Thing Around Your Neck
Category: community (or lack of)
Orwell, Klemperer and language
I was talking with a friend about what counts as good writing and mentioned George Orwell’s much celebrated essay on ‘Politics of the English language’. In it Orwell argues writers should think carefully about the language they use as doing so not only produces clear, concise articles for others to read but also enables writers… Continue reading Orwell, Klemperer and language
Remembering and remembrance
November is an important time for war remembrance, at least in UK and other commonwealth countries. Two minutes silence falls every year on the ‘11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month’ marking the exact anniversary of the armistice that brought an end to world war hostilities in1918. The month is also… Continue reading Remembering and remembrance
Twin cities
The following blogs appear in a site I help administer, Coventry Association for International Friendship. I have collected four blogs I have written from that site, in case they will interest anyone reading my education blog. The Power of Silence 13 February is the date on which Dresdners commemorate the destruction of their city in… Continue reading Twin cities
Reporting Atrocity (3): Lidice Shall Live
10 June (the date of this post) is the anniversary of the Lidice massacre in what is now the Czech republic. If the previous two posts were about disinformation then in this case the facts are not denied. On 27 May 1942, members of the Czechoslovak resistance wounded Reinhard Heydrich, a top Nazi official in an ambush.… Continue reading Reporting Atrocity (3): Lidice Shall Live
Reporting Atrocity (2)
Discussion of the reporting of the war in Ukraine takes me back to a much more serious case of misinformation / disinformation in UK some years back. This concerned a libel of UK television reporters Penny Marshall and Ian Williams in an article published way back in February 1997. The bare facts are that ‘Living… Continue reading Reporting Atrocity (2)
Reporting Atrocity 1
The other day BBC Radio carried a programme on academics who had tweeted or retweeted posts that cast doubt on atrocities carried out by Russian soldiers during the Ukraine war. (There is at the time of writing access to both the programme, 'File on Four: Ukraine: The disinformation war', and transcript of the broadcast at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017thr)… Continue reading Reporting Atrocity 1
Culture Wars: when did they start?
I am not sure there is agreement on what a culture war is but for me it is not simply disagreement over a policy or idea, or even heated disagreement, but the kind of disagreement which does not allow for compromise or acceptance that the other side has a point. As such you are not just… Continue reading Culture Wars: when did they start?
Seeing through other eyes: City twinning
I have covered more global themes on this blog but now something local. Coventry, where I live, has been putting on events as part of its UK City of Culture status. There is very little extra money associated with becoming a city of culture but it is a good boost for community arts around the… Continue reading Seeing through other eyes: City twinning
Is it few or less people?
I have to read a lot of essays and theses recently and notice that I am getting a obsessive about the 'correct' use of language. I don't like myself for it as I consider myself as flexible and tolerant about the way that language is used. More specifically, I think language rules should be descriptive… Continue reading Is it few or less people?
Michael Hammond 
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