by David West | Oct 20, 2022 | News
We visited the Courtauld Gallery yesterday, where I stood admiring Manet’s painting, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, for some time. There is a glass on the counter. As I examined the glass more closely, I marvelled at the detail, how perfect the glass was, how it...
by David West | Oct 19, 2022 | Readers Club
My main interest in this book is because my father was a Freemason. He never divulged the secrets he had sworn not to. The Craft does, although to what extent, I don’t know. It is a brilliantly written history of Freemasonry, from its beginnings in late 16th century...
by David West | Oct 18, 2022 | News
Brevity is concise and exact use of words. According to a proverb, brevity is the soul of wit. Flash fiction should be a thousand words or less. An extreme version is the six word story, of which the best example I know is: For sale: baby shoes. Never worn. It has...
by David West | Oct 14, 2022 | News
Chekhov’s Gun is a writing principle which requires that if a gun is on display in act one, it must be used by act three. Claire and I were watching All Creatures Great and Small last night. Mrs Hall the housekeeper, played by Anna Madeley, left the veterinary...
by David West | Oct 13, 2022 | News
Freemasonry has always been largely about networking. Roberto Calvi rang a bell. He was an Italian banker found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in 1982, the year I graduated from Oxford. I remembered that there had been some great scandal but couldn’t remember much...
