Random surreal memory: the other day, on Strictly Come Dancing, they had a "comedy" VT in which the English girl wasn't really getting the spirit of the samba she was learning… so they dressed up her Russian dance partner in a sombrero and a Spanish flag. (The resulting…

The "Mexican moustache" is a stereotype here in England, too, and my parents told me I was taking things too seriously when I tried to say that some advert with fake Mexicans dancing around could possibly maybe just a tiny bit slightly be racist. Here the concept of "Mexicans" is "fun party people who talk funny and…

I don't understand much Italian at all, but one of my favourite things about being alone in Italy was having my windows open and listening to arguments — it's a glorious language to listen to being shouted (preferably when it's not about terrible accidents, of course).

Ha, yep I'm a badass in knowing what I won't be badass at! Photobook badassery is a very, very good skill. Many people who make photobooks should really not make photobooks (perhaps they might be really great coast guards? We'll never know.)

I quite often ask myself how I failed to know something! I find odd gaps in my knowledge that, even though obviously I know everything about my own history, I can't see how I missed. I suppose there are just so many things to learn!

Oh, thank you for asking the question; it was really interesting for me to think more about it.

Yep — I would be a rubbish ship captain because I would freak out and quite possibly run away, and it would be my job to not do that. (I am a big fan of doing one's job while being a total badass… and my badassery does not extend to either of these men's jobs, unfortunately.)

It's pretty stunning. I felt so massively frustrated and disgusted by Schettino just listening to it — I think that's part of why I was so absolutely pro Captain de Falco, because he kept it together so bloody well and took charge while obviously being so enraged. (Clearly, this is why people like de Falco are in…

Thirty seconds after it was on, my phone rang and it was my mother going "Did you just hear the Italian coast guard? It was like the best person in the world and the worst person in the world on the phone to each other!"

Have you heard the phone call of the coast guard telling Schettino to GET BACK ON THE SHIP? It's quite something. I saw it on TV and started applauding the coast guard (Capt. Gregorio De Falco). I didn't think at the time that Schettino could come across any worse than he already did, but when he says "but it's…

"More" was the magazine that we used to secretly pass around the playground for the detailed illustrated "position of the month" column. I'm guessing it's not the same thing where you are!

Ugh, it's SO AWFUL.

For some reason, I always thought that eeny-meeny etc was Irish! Probably because my Irish granddad was always making up little nonsense songs that sounded like that. I didn't know the origin until today.

I think nowadays, young people are likely to find out about blackface because someone gets publicly chastised for doing it on Halloween. And then I think the problem is — in what context do they get that information?

I think it might be because minstrel shows were just about old enough that they didn't really come up in conversation/education… and still fresh enough to be something that perhaps older people didn't want to bring up. The "Black & White Minstrel Show" ran on the BBC until 1978, three years before I was born; I…

I only really know of it because I think some of the dancers on Strictly were on it when they were younger. I will investigate it.

I know you're suggesting everyone should already know all of this already, but I did find that piece really interesting and informative — I know that blackface is wrong, wrong, wrongity wrong, but I'd never particularly read up on the history: I'd heard the name "Jim Crow" in passing but didn't know what it was all…

I somehow only flew Virgin America once and don't remember anything about it (much drama was occurring at the time) but I try to fly normal Virgin as much as possible because it just seems so superior to everyone else I've flown with (keep in mind, I've weirdly never flown Air NZ, Emirates, etc). (We have a domestic…

I want to watch more dancing programmes! I think here we only have Strictly and one really dodgy one where Z-list slebs danced with their real-life non-dancer girlfriends/boyfriends/husbands/wives, and it was awful. (I think we did have SYTYCD here at some point… but I never saw it.)

Exactly! I'm a photographer and sometimes I find myself in a dilemma with group shots where someone looks significantly better or worse than the other people (not necessarily always because the person is just "better" or "worse" but just in terms of that particular shot, or perhaps one person just had really great…