Newsletter 1033
Best of the Moment
The Men Behind Germany’s Building Debacles
Susanne Beyer & Ulrike Knöfel | Spiegel | 14th June 2013
Amazing stuff. Spiegel rounds up the architects responsible for three national fiascos — Stuttgart's train station, Hamburg's concert house, Berlin's airport — and asks them to explain. They blame contractors, clients, national character, changing regulations, and, just a little bit, themselves. "A building project doesn't simply progress from A to Z, with everything going according to plan. Most plans start at the end"
The Mystery Of Benjamin Britten’s Heart
Hywel Davies | New Statesman | 14th June 2013
Cardiologist sets out the medical evidence that the great composer did indeed have syphilis, a claim furiously disputed by Britten's admirers, but reported as fact in Paul Kildea's new biography. This article pretty much settles the argument. A surgeon who performed open-heart surgery on Britten in 1973 found evidence of syphilis. The surgeon told Davies, who told a colleague, who told Kildea
Obituary: Oliver Bernard
Anonymous | Telegraph | 14th June 2013
"Oliver Bernard, who has died aged 87, was a Communist book-packer, an RAF pilot, a gasworks fireman, a tramlines repairer, a kitchen porter, a male prostitute, a rider of freight cars in Canada, a prize-winning advertising copywriter, a drama teacher, a CND campaigner, a prisoner, a patient on the analyst’s couch and a convert to Roman Catholicism. He was, though, better known as a poet and translator of Apollinaire and Rimbaud"
We Fight Weeds
Rose Garrett | Modern Farmer | 13th June 2013
Consider the names of ten popular herbicides: Roundup; Ranger; Rascal; Rattler; Honcho; Rodeo; Escort; Bronco; Lariat; Prosecutor. Why all the brawn and bluster? "In a world where climate change and herbicide-resistance take power from farmers and into the unpredictable hands of the elements, the sense of control — or illusion of control — can mean a lot. What’s in a name? The ability to turn an anxious farmer into a self-assured head Honcho"
Video of the day: Radio 4 In Four Minutes
Thought for the day:
"The meal is not over when I'm full. The meal is over when I hate myself"— Louis CK