Author Archives: bernardporter2013

Tomorrow I have to get my Identitetskort renewed at the Central Police Station in Stockholm. You need an Identity card, and a ‘Personnummer’, to do almost anything in Sweden. Years ago I used to object strongly to the very idea … Continue reading →

Last night on SVT there was a fantastic performance, from a restored 18th-century theatre near Stockholm, of Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas. ‘Dido’s Lament’ has always been one of the pieces of music that has moved me the most. I got … Continue reading →

(Personal) 2022 will probably be the year when I change my domestic arrangements, selling my house in Hull, moving into a small flat there, and living most of the time in Sweden, away from what England has become. That is, … Continue reading →

I know it’s unfair to judge a whole organisation by the conduct of one of its members; but how on earth does the Catholic Church let Jacob Rees-Mogg get away with it? I was brought up a Christian: a faith … Continue reading →

All the people I am currently dealing with at Bloomsbury are women; as from my experience they almost all seem to be in the publishing world. (It wasn’t like that in my earlier authorial days.) I have no problem with … Continue reading →

Is it a symptom of a real depression when England are swept away by Australia in the first Test, and West Ham are beaten 2-0 by Arsenal, both within a couple of days – and I really don’t care?

Anyone who thinks I’m a bit hard on Britain’s ‘Public’ schools – and the damage they are still doing to our politics and our country – should read the following, from today’s Guardian. It reveals a lot about Boris Johnson, … Continue reading →

When Boris goes – which surely must be soon – will he take the gold wallpaper with him? Among all the other scandals which have accompanied the refurbishing of his Downing Street flat – who paid for it? Did he … Continue reading →

If the ‘great man’ theory of history doesn’t quite work, not for serious historians anyway, the ‘absolutely f*cking useless man’ theory might still be worth considering. Boris Johnson seems to be showing the way in which idiots and amoralists can … Continue reading →

A whole programme on Swedish TV last night about Boris. Not complimentary, indeed the reverse, very mocking, quite humorous; but making the suggestion that laughter is a good way of easing in authoritarian rule. (The K-Y Jelly of politics?) Which … Continue reading →