Two portraits of a gay icon and mad arsonist

Posted by on Jan 4, 2008 in updates | 12 comments Whenever I visit one of my friends, my head instantly swivels in one direction – to the two fabulous drawings on each side of her fireplace. I find them so captivating. But then the subjects are two very extraordinary men. Full marks if you have identified them as the uniquely flamboyant gay icon Quentin Crisp (left) and mad Jonathan Martin (right), famed for burning down York Minster in...
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Divorce by text message

Posted by on Jan 4, 2008 in updates | 17 comments Would it have made any difference if Iqbal Abul Nasr had answered a missed phone call from her husband? Would he still have sent her a cruel text message stating: “I divorce you because you didn’t answer your husband.� I doubt it. In line with Shaira law, men do not need to go to court to file for divorce. A unilateral declaration of divorce by a man, repeated three times, formally ends a...
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The magic of swans

Posted by on Jan 4, 2008 in updates | 11 comments There is something very magical about swans, particularly this time of the year when thousands of graceful Bewicks and Whoopers migrate from Arctic Russia and Iceland to spend the winter at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Welney, close to where I live. When two keen ornithological friends visited me from Cologne last week, Dan and Cathy, this was where we headed. I had borrowed my...
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