Cicely Herbert describes a walk along Bradford’s Peace Trail, taking in memorials, the Peace Museum, sculptures and the Peace Studies library at Bradford University.
Cicely Herbert describes a children’s opera on the Orpheus myth taken into primary schools by English Touring Opera, as an example of arts education that helps children understand strong emotions.
Cicely Herbert reviews the DVD City Swimmers, on swimming in the Hampstead Heath ponds and the public right to swim in natural waters, with reflections on the spiritual meaning of rivers.
Cicely Herbert reviews the National Theatre’s revival of Brecht’s The Life of Galileo, with Simon Russell Beale, on the conflict between scientific discovery and religious authority and the moral duty of scientists.
Reviews Imre Kertész’s Holocaust novel and film Fateless and Daniel Barenboim’s 2006 Reith Lecture on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which contrasts strength with power and offers music as a model for listening.
Cicely Herbert reviews Michael Winterbottom’s film The Road to Guantánamo, on the Tipton Three’s wrongful imprisonment and torture, and contrasts it with a television documentary on peaceable bonobos.
Cicely Herbert recommends New Scientist as a guide to scientific literacy, citing reports on singing mice, seed banks in war zones and the Hanging Gardens, and its coverage of creationism and fundamentalism.
Cicely Herbert reviews Howard Brenton’s Paul at the National Theatre, which explores how the resurrection myth arose, and a revival of Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, a plea for tolerance among Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Cicely Herbert’s poem imagines meeting Rembrandt on a walk and speaking to him of death, drawn by his self-knowledge, before doubting that the encounter happened.
Cicely Herbert reports on musical peace initiatives in London, including concerts bringing Israelis and Palestinians together and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, taking Edward Said’s phrase that counterpoint is a way to unity.
