For the JC April 2025 Imagine, if you will, being the obscure relative of one of the most famous people in the world, a person who attracts admiration and occasional opprobrium whenever their name is mentioned. And you bear the same surname, and perhaps, are forever having to explain to new acquaintances that yes, you […]
For the Jewish Chronicle March 2025 The human rights lawyer Philippe Sands KC has a storied reputation for forensic detective work in his books piecing together the consequences of the Holocaust — East West Street and The Ratline. Now, in 38 Londres Street, Sands once again dips in to his personal history and his in-depth […]
For Jewish News Feb 2025 Thousands of Israelis, many waving national flags or orange balloons, lined the streets on Wednesday morning as a funeral procession took place for the three murdered members of the Bibas family whose capture by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023 gripped the world. Shiri Bibas and her two red-headed sons, […]
For Jewish News Feb 2025 The rain poured down like tears — and then the tears poured like rain, as a grim-faced crowd gathered opposite Downing Street in Whitehall on Thursday to pay tribute to the four dead Israelis who had been finally returned home by Hamas that morning. Under the auspices of Stop the […]
For JN Life magazine Every time I am presented with another book about the Holocaust, I think there can’t possibly be anything new to learn. But in Keren Blankfeld’s mesmerising Lovers in Auschwitz, a masterful account of an extraordinary relationship in the worst death camp of all, there is plenty to learn and marvel at. […]
This piece originally appeared in the Jewish Chronicle on July 23 2004.I’m posting it now after a request. I am receiving a lesson in natural history from one of the world’s greatest living naturalists. With great patience, Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild is describing the astonishing behaviour of the tiger moth ear mite. “The tiger moth […]
For Jewish News Jan 15 2025 In recent years there has been a discussion, both inside and outside the Jewish community, about how to talk to children about the Holocaust. The subject is repeatedly aired at this time of year, with Holocaust Memorial Day on the national and international agenda. Children, naturally curious, will ask […]
For the Jewish Chronicle January 2025 I admit, I approached Adrian Tinniswood’s The Power and the Glory: The Country House Before the Great War, with a certain amount of trepidation. I felt like a despised day tripper tourist seeking to unlock the secrets of the Great and the Good. I need not have worried. Tinniswood, […]
The Brutalist January 2025 for Jewish News Let’s be honest — a film about brutalist architecture does not sound terribly appealing. But Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist — which won him and his star, Adrien Brody, three Golden Globes this week for best drama, best director and best actor respectively — is an extraordinary creation. The […]
Nir Kedar for Jewish News Life mag November 2024 We are only a few minutes into our Zoom interview when Professor Nir Kedar’s screen goes dark and, apologetically, he says there are sirens and he needs to run to a shelter. This is the sad reality of life in Israel today — but the remarkable […]