Paris, paint and prostitutes 24 September 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , History , Sexuality , 2 Comments In the second half of the 19th century Paris saw the confluence of two major streams of change. The first was to the French capital itself. The cramped old arrondissements were demolished to make way for Baron […]

Point Blank – Springsteen and the shadow of shame 5 March 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Shame , 3 Comments As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, hopes of a freer and more egalitarian society arising from the flower power revolution and the Summer of Love gave way to disillusion […]

Death of a Car Lady – under the hood of Anne Naysmith’s life 16 February 2015 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , News , Shame , 1 Comment Last Friday, the eve of Valentine’s Day, red roses spontaneously appeared in the windows of many of the shops lining the Chiswick High Street. The […]

Pink Floyd’s The Wall – a rock opera on sexual shame 18 March 2012 Posted by: Michael H Hallett Category: Arts , Shame , 3 Comments During my adolescence, in what I only later realised was a subtly but significantly dysfunctional family, rock music was the main fault line between my father and I. I […]