A recent weekend escape in the country turned into a journey through time and ancestry. I was visiting special family friends in Gloucestershire and on Saturday we drove to Malvern to enjoy the Royal Horticultural Society Spring Festival. The event was packed with stalls, music, food, vintage cars, champagne and so many incredible gardens and flowers. … Continue reading A Family Affair

Clichés spring to mind when I try and explain what I saw last week at the Palladium. My vocabulary is failing to fully appreciate the experience that is Gutterdammerung. Advertised as a film created and directed by visual artist Bjorn Tagemose, as well as co-written by Henry Rollins (who featured as a hard-line priest) I … Continue reading Juliette wakes up from a bad trip…

A few weeks ago I had an overnight stay in Brighton. It was a friend’s birthday and my mate Gem and I travelled down to join the celebrations. All in all a very festive time was had on a cold and windy Friday night pubbing and dancing until the sun started rising on Saturday. After … Continue reading Initiation

The Democratic Alliance (DA) Abroad organised a demonstration outside South Africa House in London last Saturday in solidarity with the mass action against Jacob Zuma in South Africa the day before. This was a result of the president’s disastrous midnight cabinet reshuffle a week earlier which saw him dismiss and replace the well performing finance … Continue reading A Country United

It’s officially spring!  The sun is trying its hardest to join the party, and while the air remains crisp, spirits and temperatures are definitely lifting. Summer is on the wayLeaving work on time yesterday it was refreshing to make the commute home while the sky was still blue and I felt rather lucky that my … Continue reading Mad Dogs and Englishmen

 From the deep beats of Gqom to the frantic pace of Shangaan Electro, Spoek Mathambo’s Future Sounds of Mzansi takes an affectionate tour through the budding electronic music scene in South Africa. As part of The British Museum’s special exhibition, South Africa - The Art of a Nation, I was lucky enough to catch a … Continue reading Mzansi Sound

I love the movies. I mean LOVE the movies - the smell of popcorn, the unnecessarily large drinks, settling into a dark room with a bunch of strangers waiting to be transported into someone’s celluloid fantasy. The only really not fun thing (besides the inevitable toilet queue) is the price. The tickets aren’t usually too … Continue reading The Accidentally Themed Cinema

 It was in a packed theatre on the LSE campus that DA leader Mmusi Maimane addressed a 400 strong crowd on the subject of Protecting South Africa’s Fragile Democracy.  Introduced by the Chair, Professor Tim Allen, Maimane began by greeting those present in four languages and expressed a humble gratitude for the opportunity to speak. He … Continue reading Mmusi Maimane and South Africa’s Democracy

Commuting is one of those things one cannot get away from. Unless you want to share a shoebox with 8 other people (and probably a fox) or have more money than the Sultan of Brunei, living in the city in London has been moved to my unrealistic dreams list, along with being able to fly. … Continue reading Learning the Rail Ropes