The last London by Iain Sinclair - very brief review

 I’ve just read Iain Sinclair’s “The last London”. Great informative book by historian and friend of walking Youtuber John Rogers. Sinclair takes us on a journey across London in a series of walks, sharing personal anecdotes and history of the sites he came across. Much recommended.

City Hall Memorial Garden

As it is the last day of VE day celebrations in the UK today, I paid a visit to City Hall Memorial Garden in Central, Hong Kong. There are many plaques and monuments paying tribute to the sacrifice of the servicemen and women who fought in both world wars. In particular it focused on the bravery and the sacrifices made by those involved.

Recipes

 One of my biggest bugbears in life is seeing an interesting cooking recipe and then seeing that it serves four or sometimes six. It never serves one or in my current case two. One way I get around it is to divide the final result into four or six sealable containers, eat one serving and freeze the rest. For any on his or her on own I recommend “One is fun” by the legendary Delia Smith.

The last London by Iain Sinclair

 After finishing John Roger’s “This other London”, I went to Hong Kong’s city hall library for the first time to borrow Iain Sinclair’s “The last London”. I first heard of Sinclair from John Roger’s youtube videos where he sometimes joins John on his walks. Iain Sinclair offers a deep understanding of many places in London, so I decided to give one of his books a try.  I will write a review after finishing the book.

City Hall library, in a listed building in Hong Kong’s Central district that was built in 1962 during the British administration. The whole building reminds me of the schools I attended back in the UK with its brutalist facade. 

This other London: Adventures in an overlooked City by John Rogers

After not reading any books for a while, I have just finished reading “This other London: Adventures in an overlooked city” by walks Youtuber John Rogers. 

It’s a very readable and entertaining book documenting ten of his walks around London back in 2012. Just like his videos, John shares his thoughts and anecdotes about various landmarks he comes across.  He has a particular fondness for rivers, especially obscure and lost rivers, rivers that have now been buried underground.

I have subscribed to his channel for over five years and this book is like his videos in text form.

It’s been a while

 It’s been a while since I last blogged, Covid has come and gone, Labour are now in power in the UK, here in Hong Kong many changes have taken plane and last but not least I’m now a proud owner of an Apple Ipad. I’ve resisted Apple products all this time, but bought in order to use my “smart” guitar. However I use it for a few things, programming/coding, learning to play electronic piano or keyboard and now I’m using it for blogging.  

Expect more output from me as I share my thoughts via my Ipad

Parkfield community school

1. A comment on this blog article parkfield community school anti lgbt protests
2. Hello there, I have read your very interesting article. Before I begin, let me say that I am British Chinese, a leftwinger, a Guardian reader and someone whom Britain First and EDL members call a “dhimmi”. If dhimmi is about fighting racism then I am all for it. Ok back to the article.

   First of all homosexuality is genetically defined and not a lifestyle choice. Religion, including Islam, is a lifestyle choice. I totally understand that as a muslim you abhor homosexuality and all that goes with it. The aim of this “No Outsiders” program is not to promote homosexuality like you promote a restaurant or product but to make children understand that other sexual orientations exists. And that people with these sexual orientations should be treated no differently. I full understand that the parents involved and yourself come from a cultural background that finds this uncomfortable. If you find this to be social engineering then so be it, would you find acceptable if it was the other way round where kufr parents removed their children from classes which taught about islam? Don’t think so!

   As a multiculturalist, this article and case raises again the horrible question for us leftwingers “are muslims compatible with Western liberal society”? The protests make it more difficult for us multiculturalists to fight islamophobia and more difficult for us to be antizionist. You mentioned Israel early in your piece, and I have to admit that I wish the Islamic world shared Israel’s tolerance for LGBT rights.