Salut!

On standing, sitting or kneeling during The Star Spangled Banner, and other anthem-related controversies

I was asked by The National, Abu Dhabi, for a comment piece on issues arising from the row in the USA over black athletes sitting or kneeling during the national anthem. The editor permits reproduction of my work here ...

If there is a single act that stirs more indignation among loyal citizens of any country than burning or otherwise defiling its flag, it is showing perceived disrespect for the national anthem.

People quarrel over classical symphonies, rock and rap. But it is national anthems that cause, the world over, some of the fiercest arguments about music.

Minding our language: Harvey, Irma, Maria ... and now Hurricane Trump?

I don't know who to believe on climate change. English grad @JamesDelingpole or literally millions of trained scientists worldwide 🤔

— Dan 🐙 (@GameDevDan) September 20, 2017

Loosely my column on words, this latest instalment at The National* - the editor kindly consents to reproduction of my work here - had a look at the naming of hurricanes. The tweet was irresistible: James has views that I'd run a mile from on just about everything, but wasn't a bad sort when I knew him ...

Gazing at his damaged home after Hurricane Maria struck his Caribbean island, the Dominican prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit is unlikely to have been wondering why tropical storms are given such cosy names.

Still, less would he have been bursting to discuss the merits of a study, published in the scholarly setting of the journal of the US National Academy of Science, on a gender issue arising from the nomenclature of such cruel sources of death and devastation.

On acquiring a new Mercedes when pushing 70. Late-life crisis or common sense?

Nine-and-a-half years ago, I wrote at a rarely updated and rarely read offshoot of this site, Salut! North, about the various cars I had owned or leased. There have been a few more since then so maybe an update is overdue.

Bill Taylor, a great friend of mine and of the little Salut! group of sites, has just made a new acquisition to provide for those days he doesn't or cannot rely on Toronto's public transport system. And it really is new, a Merc no less. If you like what you read, check back on his superb series of life as an Englishman in New York ...