May 26, 2012

Yes to politics in my parish

Labour MPs canvassing for the 1964 Greater London elections ©Associated Newspapers/Rex

Democracy at the local level has its pains, but it too delivers rewards

Crushed: Virginia Woolf suffered serious depression after finishing novels ©Getty May 19, 2012

Triumphant moments of loss

‘This book which you have been slaving away at for so long is also what has been keeping you going’

Sir Roger Norrington conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony ©Lebrecht May 12, 2012

Authenticity’s real appeal

The idea behind period performance has always seemed quite odd, and in a way touchingly romantic, and not really historical at all

Piero di Cosimo's 'The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus' ©FT From ARTS May 5, 2012

Just look, don’t preach

When aspects of a landscape or objects in a domestic setting are used in preaching, they lose their wonderful particularity

Ryoji Ikeda’s ‘data.anatomy [civic]’ From ARTS Apr 28, 2012

From the civic to the sublime

An automobile-inspired installation raises tricky questions on the production of art and its ramifications

Lionel Messi ©Getty Apr 21, 2012

The magic of Mercury rising

Sport, at its most compelling, is about outwitting and trickery, about cheeky daring rather than bombardment

Henri Matisse ©Corbis From ARTS Apr 14, 2012

Drawn to distraction

We have long-standing assumptions about drawing, but Matisse sought to break these concepts with his works

Harmondsworth Great Barn Apr 7, 2012

The beauty of function

Harmondsworth Great Barn, recently acquired by English Heritage, reminds us that a barn could be better than a cathedral

Olaf Eliasson’s “The Weather Project” ©AP Mar 30, 2012

An energising gift of light

More than heat, it is what truly revitalises

Cycling in Cuba ©Alamy Mar 23, 2012

Feel free to stress out

While Cuba seems an exercise in stress-reduction, versions of neo-liberalism in the west could be seen as maximising stress

Mar 17, 2012

Full of hot air, signifying nothing

A visit to an art festival in the north saw undercooked initiatives both at the level of ideas and art

Mar 9, 2012

Our debt to Greek culture

All the talk is of Greece’s unrepayable financial obligations, but we should also consider the gifts the country has given us

Mar 2, 2012

Surface tensions

The founders of psychoanalysis made wonderful discoveries, whose implications may take several centuries to realise

Feb 24, 2012

Work less, feel better

Radical historian and ecologist Ivan Illich reminds us that our human constitution requires us to question ends and not merely to pursue means

From ARTS Feb 3, 2012

In pursuit of perfectibility

Leonardo da Vinci’s works remind us that we are capable of being transformed by the soul’s quest for beauty and truth

Jan 27, 2012

A vital space to Occupy

The overriding impression from the Occupy St Paul’s camp was not of dope-fuelled haze but of uncanny premonition

Jan 13, 2012

Touched by tales aloud

The spoken word makes salient the humanity that binds us

Jan 6, 2012

Plan C for humanity

Instead of belt-tightening and borrowing, restore empathy to help kick-start the economy

Dec 30, 2011

Glory amid the gloom

If 2011 has ended in a mood of economic pessimism then it is all the more reason for dwelling on aspects of life that might restore the human spirit

Dec 23, 2011

A modern Jerusalem

William Blake counsels not despair but an unceasing ‘mental fight’ in harmonising social and economic goals

About Harry

Harry Eyres Harry Eyres established the FT’s Slow Lane column, which celebrates the creative use of down-time, in January 2004. Before that in a varied journalistic career he was a theatre critic and arts writer for The Times (1987-1993), wine editor of Harpers & Queen (1989-1996), wine columnist for The Spectator (1984-1989) and the first and so far the only Poetry Editor of The Daily Express (1996-2001).

In addition to his journalistic work Harry Eyres is a published poet, editor of LSE Environment, the newsletter of LSE’s Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance, and teaches London theatre for a consortium of American universities. He wrote the Beginner’s Guide to Plato’s The Republic for Hodder & Stoughton’s Beginner’s Guides to Great Works series.

E-mail Harry Eyres

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