Veronica
@zyxwv.bsky.social
Likes - walking, running (slowly), reading, travelling, London, Dual national EU and British.
"The way a state treats its aliens is the way it would treat its own subjects if it dared."
Neal Ascherson, January 1996, writing in the Independent.
"The way a state treats its aliens is the way it would treat its own subjects if it dared."
Neal Ascherson, January 1996, writing in the Independent.
Back in 1992, in a (now very upmarket) hotel in Warsaw, husband thought the chanteuse was singing 'nothing for bears to do'.
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas
December 25, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Back in 1992, in a (now very upmarket) hotel in Warsaw, husband thought the chanteuse was singing 'nothing for bears to do'.
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas
"Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame."
poets.org/poem/septemb...
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame."
poets.org/poem/septemb...
September 1, 1939
I sit in one of the dives
poets.org
December 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
"Defenceless under the night
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame."
poets.org/poem/septemb...
Our world in stupor lies;
Yet, dotted everywhere,
Ironic points of light
Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages:
May I, composed like them
Of Eros and of dust,
Beleaguered by the same
Negation and despair,
Show an affirming flame."
poets.org/poem/septemb...
The World Service is also excellent.
December 19, 2025 at 11:58 PM
The World Service is also excellent.
Would have been bad news for my father who came to the UK in 1938 as a refugee from the Nazis and, after about nine years as a citizen of nowhere (copyright Theresa May), became a British citizen in 1947.
But he's dead now. So maybe I will be allowed to stay.
But he's dead now. So maybe I will be allowed to stay.
December 19, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Would have been bad news for my father who came to the UK in 1938 as a refugee from the Nazis and, after about nine years as a citizen of nowhere (copyright Theresa May), became a British citizen in 1947.
But he's dead now. So maybe I will be allowed to stay.
But he's dead now. So maybe I will be allowed to stay.
She looks utterly beautiful. Congratulations to all of you.
December 19, 2025 at 11:32 PM
She looks utterly beautiful. Congratulations to all of you.
Oxfam online bookshop currently has 84 copies of her books, as compared with a measly 16 copies of the Da Vinci Code. (Though more if you include his other books).
onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/searchresult...
onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/searchresult...
onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk
November 30, 2025 at 10:21 PM
Oxfam online bookshop currently has 84 copies of her books, as compared with a measly 16 copies of the Da Vinci Code. (Though more if you include his other books).
onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/searchresult...
onlineshop.oxfam.org.uk/searchresult...
Hello. So glad to have read 'In Search of Berlin' before visiting the city. And look what I saw for sale in the shop at Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.
November 28, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Hello. So glad to have read 'In Search of Berlin' before visiting the city. And look what I saw for sale in the shop at Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.
"The way a state treats its aliens is the way it would treat its own subjects if it dared."
Neal Ascherson, January 1996, writing in the Independent.
Neal Ascherson, January 1996, writing in the Independent.
November 18, 2025 at 12:49 AM
"The way a state treats its aliens is the way it would treat its own subjects if it dared."
Neal Ascherson, January 1996, writing in the Independent.
Neal Ascherson, January 1996, writing in the Independent.
Presumably as opposed to sending their children to the UK unaccompanied in the hope that mean-minded, I'm all right Jack, oh look I'm an immigrant, Home Secretaries won't immediately deport them.
Worked for the #Kindertransport. Children lived while their parents were murdered in hellholes.
Worked for the #Kindertransport. Children lived while their parents were murdered in hellholes.
November 18, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Presumably as opposed to sending their children to the UK unaccompanied in the hope that mean-minded, I'm all right Jack, oh look I'm an immigrant, Home Secretaries won't immediately deport them.
Worked for the #Kindertransport. Children lived while their parents were murdered in hellholes.
Worked for the #Kindertransport. Children lived while their parents were murdered in hellholes.
I think I'd still vote Labour (joylessly) but to keep out Tories & Reform who are still worse, with their intent to take UK out of ECHR & deport people with ILR.
But Labour & Mahmood are now in Hannah Arendt territory: viz "those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil"
But Labour & Mahmood are now in Hannah Arendt territory: viz "those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil"
November 16, 2025 at 11:37 PM
I think I'd still vote Labour (joylessly) but to keep out Tories & Reform who are still worse, with their intent to take UK out of ECHR & deport people with ILR.
But Labour & Mahmood are now in Hannah Arendt territory: viz "those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil"
But Labour & Mahmood are now in Hannah Arendt territory: viz "those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil"
Sadly the conflation of asylum-seeking & illegal immigration is now commonplace - eg Today programme presenters' vocabulary is oftenof legal & illegal immigration.
Refugees flee their homes when they cannot stay there safely. Like my 'enemy alien' dad.
www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/jewish-r...
Refugees flee their homes when they cannot stay there safely. Like my 'enemy alien' dad.
www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/jewish-r...
Our Migration Story: The Making of Britain
Jewish refuge and the Nazi regime
www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk
November 16, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Sadly the conflation of asylum-seeking & illegal immigration is now commonplace - eg Today programme presenters' vocabulary is oftenof legal & illegal immigration.
Refugees flee their homes when they cannot stay there safely. Like my 'enemy alien' dad.
www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/jewish-r...
Refugees flee their homes when they cannot stay there safely. Like my 'enemy alien' dad.
www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk/oms/jewish-r...
Looks like Mahmood would have loved the conditions for the #Kindertransport to be allowed into the UK
* No burden on the state
* Assumption their stay would only be temporary
* No family reunion
and would probably have returned them to their home countries in 1945
hmd.org.uk/learn-about-...
* No burden on the state
* Assumption their stay would only be temporary
* No family reunion
and would probably have returned them to their home countries in 1945
hmd.org.uk/learn-about-...
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust | The Kindertransport and refugees
Between 1938 to 1939, 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi territories were given transport to Britain. This rescue operation became known as the Kindertransport (children's transport). By 1939 Britain wa...
hmd.org.uk
November 16, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Looks like Mahmood would have loved the conditions for the #Kindertransport to be allowed into the UK
* No burden on the state
* Assumption their stay would only be temporary
* No family reunion
and would probably have returned them to their home countries in 1945
hmd.org.uk/learn-about-...
* No burden on the state
* Assumption their stay would only be temporary
* No family reunion
and would probably have returned them to their home countries in 1945
hmd.org.uk/learn-about-...
I'll bet you have short hair too, and that you won't do anything I say.
Though having said that, there is absolutely no way that I'd be your sunshine daisy from L.A.
Perish the thought
Though having said that, there is absolutely no way that I'd be your sunshine daisy from L.A.
Perish the thought
November 4, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I'll bet you have short hair too, and that you won't do anything I say.
Though having said that, there is absolutely no way that I'd be your sunshine daisy from L.A.
Perish the thought
Though having said that, there is absolutely no way that I'd be your sunshine daisy from L.A.
Perish the thought
As something of a perfectionist, I reckon that two out of three is actually pretty rubbish.
November 4, 2025 at 11:25 PM
As something of a perfectionist, I reckon that two out of three is actually pretty rubbish.
So it's just as well that I didn't lose my heart to a starship trooper
November 4, 2025 at 11:23 PM
So it's just as well that I didn't lose my heart to a starship trooper
In that case, are you the eggman?
November 4, 2025 at 11:21 PM
In that case, are you the eggman?
I think it is because she is fundamentally stupid - in this instance, she doesn't actually realise that his saying this is part of his campaign to unseat her as Tory leader.
October 30, 2025 at 6:34 PM
I think it is because she is fundamentally stupid - in this instance, she doesn't actually realise that his saying this is part of his campaign to unseat her as Tory leader.
I think Musk is more like Saruman - was wise once but corrupted by power, and choosing to ally with Sauron.
Or possibly the witch king of Angmar.
Or possibly the witch king of Angmar.
October 30, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I think Musk is more like Saruman - was wise once but corrupted by power, and choosing to ally with Sauron.
Or possibly the witch king of Angmar.
Or possibly the witch king of Angmar.
I went to a book launch in Soho last week. The area is so much more pleasant than when I moved to London in the early 1980s. Then it was seedy in the daytime, and I didn't venture there after dark.
And don't get me started on Kings Cross, or the smoke-free tube trains.
And don't get me started on Kings Cross, or the smoke-free tube trains.
October 17, 2025 at 11:08 PM
I went to a book launch in Soho last week. The area is so much more pleasant than when I moved to London in the early 1980s. Then it was seedy in the daytime, and I didn't venture there after dark.
And don't get me started on Kings Cross, or the smoke-free tube trains.
And don't get me started on Kings Cross, or the smoke-free tube trains.