Chas Newkey-Burden's Blog, page 15

All you need is glove

Over the course of the week I do a lot of walking and a lot of running. I typically walk at least 40 miles and run anywhere between 10 and 25 miles, depending on the time of year. During winter I take my running gloves out with me as a matter of routine. After returning [...]

Happy birthday Israel

Happy birthday to Israel: 3,000 years old, 65 years young.

Spring at last

When dawn came, the skies were clear, the trees gave off their fragrance and the earth emitted its own pleasing odor. It seemed as if the whole creation was praying: the birds were chirping overhead, the frogs were croaking in the ponds, the rooster was crowing in the yard, the water was muttering its soft [...]

The Burke! The Shawarma! The Feltz!

I was asked this morning whether I’d like to go to a gala concert celebrating the 65th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. It will feature, I was told, a number of Israeli artists, plus X Factor winner Alexandra Burke and Britain’s Got Talent winners Spelbound. And Vanessa Feltz. We could even, [...]

The disdainful Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter’s stance on Israel has earned him much condemnation over the years. Yet even bearing that in mind, I was gobsmacked to see his conduct in this video of his short meeting with Gilad Shalit’s father Noam, from 2009. The disdain that Carter shows towards Noam, who was in the middle of years of [...]

RIP Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher has died. Here’s a blogpost I wrote in 2009 about her relationship with the Jewish community and Israel. More generally, she was perhaps the most controversial prime minister in Britain’s history. But I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by how upset they feel over this loss.

Gilad deserves better than this

This is my latest column for the Jewish Chronicle When details of Gilad Shalit’s conversations with military investigators were published last week, a vocal minority criticised him. One Israeli commentator even called for Gilad to stand trial for “negligence”. I was disappointed but not surprised by these responses. During the years I spent campaigning for [...]

(Probably) the best tahini and dessert in the world

Call off the search parties, I’m fairly sure I’ve found the best tahini and dessert in the world. I dined at London’s new Middle Eastern diner Honey & Co last night. Run by Israeli chef Itamar Srulovich and his wife Sarit Packer, it is a cute bistro-sized Warren Street venue serving lovingly-created food. After we [...]

Life’s a big surprise

My all-time favourite band is The Clash. I blogged about Joe Strummer here, but I’ve never written about Mick Jones. Maybe one day I’ll do so. In the meantime, I just had to post the video for the new song from Mick’s current band Carbon/Silicon. I find it wonderfully uplifting to watch.

A happy day

The N-B clan had a lovely day today. We celebrated my Mum’s birthday, Easter and the Boat Race all in one.