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Strangers at our door

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Noah is working on the rights of refugees. They can, he tells me, also be termed asylum seekers. Why? I ask him, but he is

Birds that are feather-brained flock together …

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Noah and I are lunching together. His brow is furrowed and his eyes are narrowed. I know this expression well. It is a lover troubled

More group discussion

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“So what?” Noah says. Personally, I think this is abrupt, even rude. Especially when the subject of this – what is the word? – expostulation

Groups, nations and consternations

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The professor, delicious monster that he is, has popped in for tea. I am surprised. The last time he came, I batted my eyes at

Getting into a frothy over rugby

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“Well, how did you enjoy the rugby?” Noah asks. Noah and I are standing our Irish friends to breakfast at a local restaurant. This is

Of angels and devils, and souls in between

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“Sad case, very sad.” Noah’s gaze is upon me. Normally I like being the centre of attention, and this is so even when someone as

Boarding the trans to nowhere

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Noah and I are together in our sitting room. We are having a drink before supper. If this sounds mundane, it is because it is.

Race bind

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The Professor is with us for dinner. Unsurprisingly, I am all aquiver. Why I feel both weak at the knees and hollow in my tum when he arrives is beyond me. Is it his beautiful figure, elegant gait, his silky voice, his luminous intelligence, his gracious manner or, perhaps, last but all best, the soulful eyes which sparkle in their sockets in his finely chiselled, ripe-plum black visage?

Multiplying division: why the black adder is a bad subtractor

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“Behold the Midnight Rambler. What have you been doing so late into the night, my dear?” ‘My dear’, when uttered with such asperity, is not to be taken literally. Indeed, it means the very opposite. Much in the spirit of “you’ll forgive me for saying …”,  “with the greatest of respect …” or “you are clever enough to know …”.

Jason Arday, Rip van Winkle ripped off in turn, R.I.P

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No solitary splendour, this. I write in a solitary stupor. It is Friday night, late, and Jason Arday is, as our black friends say, late. Or as some whites say, he has passed.