A violinist who left his 285-year-old instrument in a taxi in the United States is playing a concert to thank the driver who returned it to him. Philippe Quint is giving a private 30-minute performance on Tuesday in the cab waiting area at Newark Liberty International Airport. He left his violin, a 1723 Kiesewetter Stradivarius, in a taxi on the way back from the airport last month. The driver, Mohamed Khalil, got in touch the next day to return it. Mr Khalil, who was born in Egypt, was given a reward of $100 (£50) by Mr Quint, and was also presented with a medal from the City of Newark.
A violinist who left his 285-year-old instrument in a taxi in the United States is playing a concert to thank the driver who returned it to him.
Philippe Quint is giving a private 30-minute performance on Tuesday in the cab waiting area at Newark Liberty International Airport.
He left his violin, a 1723 Kiesewetter Stradivarius, in a taxi on the way back from the airport last month.
The driver, Mohamed Khalil, got in touch the next day to return it.
Mr Khalil, who was born in Egypt, was given a reward of $100 (£50) by Mr Quint, and was also presented with a medal from the City of Newark.
France may be famed for its fabulous bread but a British baker has secured a surprising contract - to ship thousands of loaves across the channel. It is not the first request from France for the baking firm, based in the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley. "I nearly fell off my chair laughing," said director John Foster. "Asking a Brit to make French sticks?" They will ship some 7,000 soft white loaves for use in toasted sandwiches to France every few months. Mr Foster, of Foster's Bakery, said he thought that French bakers' strict adherence to tradition was why suppliers seeking a different kind of bread had to turn further afield.
France may be famed for its fabulous bread but a British baker has secured a surprising contract - to ship thousands of loaves across the channel.
It is not the first request from France for the baking firm, based in the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley.
"I nearly fell off my chair laughing," said director John Foster. "Asking a Brit to make French sticks?"
They will ship some 7,000 soft white loaves for use in toasted sandwiches to France every few months.
Mr Foster, of Foster's Bakery, said he thought that French bakers' strict adherence to tradition was why suppliers seeking a different kind of bread had to turn further afield.
The bicycle. It's the model of green transport and sales of folding ones that fit on trains are stepping up a gear. But as they multiply, so does rush-hour resentment, as commuters and cyclists come to blows. Dawn is breaking over one commuter-town train station as the daily grind of travelling to work begins. A City type is easy to pick out at the far end of the London-bound platform - he has forgone formal pinstripes for Lycra shorts and a luminous top.
The bicycle. It's the model of green transport and sales of folding ones that fit on trains are stepping up a gear. But as they multiply, so does rush-hour resentment, as commuters and cyclists come to blows.
Dawn is breaking over one commuter-town train station as the daily grind of travelling to work begins. A City type is easy to pick out at the far end of the London-bound platform - he has forgone formal pinstripes for Lycra shorts and a luminous top.
It is by this familiar maneuver that the people who have designed and supported the policies that have brought the class divide back to America - the people who have actually, really transformed our society from an egalitarian into an elitist one - perfume themselves with the essence of honest toil, like a cologne distilled from the sweat of laid-off workers. Likewise do their retainers in the wider world - the conservative politicians and the pundits who lovingly curate all this phony authenticity - become jes' folks, the most populist fellows of them all. But suppose we read on, and we find the news item about the hedge fund managers who made $2 billion and $3 billion last year, or the story about the vaporizing of our home equity. Suppose we become a little . . . bitter about this. What do our pundits and politicians tell us then? <...> If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself. Mr. Frank is the author of "The Wrecking Crew," forthcoming from Metropolitan Books. He will begin a weekly column each Wednesday in the Journal on May 14.
But suppose we read on, and we find the news item about the hedge fund managers who made $2 billion and $3 billion last year, or the story about the vaporizing of our home equity. Suppose we become a little . . . bitter about this. What do our pundits and politicians tell us then? <...>
If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they've got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don't care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I'll fly the plane myself.
Mr. Frank is the author of "The Wrecking Crew," forthcoming from Metropolitan Books. He will begin a weekly column each Wednesday in the Journal on May 14.
But it's nice to see he's getting it right. I'm amazed nobody else had noticed and writen about hte plutocratic control of the US, they don't still think it's a democracy do they ?? keep to the Fen Causeway
