Morewell

Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell (1936) After my review of George Orwell: A Literary Life last week, I decided to Google-up on what’s going on in the Orwell universe as of late. One link follows  another and, as these things tend to play themselves out, I am now registered to attend an all day conference on the author’s work…

McDonald’s newest branch in Hong Kong totally looks like something from George Orwell’s 1984

In an effort to improve their reputation as a “modern and progressive” organization, McDonald’s recently opened the first of its new “high-tech” branches in Hong Kong. As well as allowing customers to order their meals via touch-screen kiosks, the McDonald’s Next restaurant features a salad bar to cater to more health conscious diners. New items…

Cooking George Orwell’s Long Lost Kidney Stew Recipe

On the day following King George V’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, 6th May 1935, George Orwell took a break from writing A Clergyman’s Daughter to type a letter to his friend and one-time romantic interest, Brenda Salkeld. Among Orwell’s usual topics of discussion (politics, literature, and low-culture) the author outlined what he described as a “wonderful” ox-kidney…

Impressions of poverty – A Dublin Story

If you’ve ever listened to the song Running to Stand Still from U2’s Joshua Tree album you will have heard about the Dublin neighbourhood of Ballymun in the lyric, “I see seven towers but I only see one way out.” Located on the northern periphery of Dublin city, Ballymun was at one time Ireland’s largest and…

Une Generation Perdue

The house on Gunnersbury Park was the first place I lived in London and it was one of the filthiest and most unfortunate grub holes in the whole city. For a start, it was much too small for purpose. There were over 25 bodies under that roof and we only had 8 rooms between us – and that’s not…