Chas Newkey-Burden's Blog, page 19

Israeli elections 2013: an open thread

Israel goes to the polls on Tuesday and it would be great to know what you think. Israelis, who are you voting for and who do you expect to be the winners and losers? Those outside Israel, what are your feelings as the story unfolds in the hours and days ahead? To get the ball [...]

Oh Bibi it’s cold outside…

Winter truly hit England this week. Much of the country, including my village, is currently facing heavy snow. So here’s Thorns, by the lovely Charlie Simpson. It’s a beautiful song about English weather and the seasons: Let’s put on our rain coats And drench ourselves in England’s weather Just to know we’re free… Follow me [...]

Adele’s acceptance speech irreverence

Adele isn’t just a superb songwriter with a magnificent voice. She also has a knack of cutting through the bland corporate backslapping of prestigious awards ceremonies. In February 2012, she won an astonishing six Grammy awards. During her emotional acceptance speech for the sixth, she wiped her face and said: ‘Oh my God, I got [...]

The food of Jerusalem

I’m sure many of you will have heard of the cookbook Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Yotam is Jewish and Sami is Arab. Their beautiful book serves up 100 recipes which cover the traditions of all Jerusalem’s people, accompanied by a generous serving of dazzling photography of the wonderful city. It’s a book [...]

New Year in Amsterdam

We continued our annual tradition of heading to Amsterdam for New Year’s Eve. Ollie Bollen, fireworks, food and fun – we had a lovely little time. Here are some photographs I took. I visited the Portuguese Synagogue, which is a beautiful building. The buttresses are modelled on those of a reconstruction of the Temple of [...]

I just really like it

Fairytale of New York by The Pogues is one of my favourite Xmas songs, but my very favourite is White Wine In The Sun, by Tim Minchin. I like it because it is about much more than Xmas. It’s about life and love. I’ve never completed a listen of this song without having a little [...]

My year in books: part three

Here is the final part of my round-up of every sodding book I’ve read this year. Plus, some other 2012 highlights. The Secret Race, by Tyler Hamilton We live and learn – and us Lance Armstrong fans have done a lot of living and learning in recent months. It is hard to know how many [...]

Recipe: Oriental rice

This is a guest post from Daniel Levy Middle Eastern cuisine is delicious but all too often it can be time-consuming, fiddly and a bit hit and miss if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. As a staple carbohydrate in the Middle East, rice features in most main meals and can either make or [...]

2012: the greatest year ever?

The Spectator makes a fascinating claim in its Christmas issue: It may not feel like it, but 2012 has been the greatest year in the history of the world. That sounds like an extravagant claim, but it is borne out by evidence. Never has there been less hunger, less disease or more prosperity. It’s worth [...]

My year in books: part two

Here is part two of my round-up of every sodding book I’ve read in 2012. Again, I’d love to hear which books you read this year. Let me know in the comments. The Happy Depressive, by Alastair Campbell I learned a lot from this short book. I cried not unlike a baby as I read [...]