Written by me

The attack on the Cereal Killer café in the East End a few weeks ago - I assume the anti-gentrification mob attacked at breakfast time - reminded me of those 5.30am walks in the 1950s with my grandfather, from Aldgate East tube past the Whitechapel…

Do you know any 14-16- year-olds who have after-school jobs these days? When I was a teenager in the 1960s everybody had one. Health and Safety must have put a stop to them - the risks are just too great. They could be radicalised by…

Towards the end of June, I got an email inviting me to give a speech in Fiji. It took me less than a second to accept the invitation. "Did you know the JC was big in Fiji," I asked the editor. "No," he said. "I…

On Tuesday afternoon, I went for my annual Harley Street medical check up. I took a very small lift to the fourth floor, face to face with a very large lady in a very large hat with fruit on it: I was tempted to eat…

"You're the third Klaureen I've met this week," I said. She looked shocked. "Must be April's hot name," I told her. The first lady with the badge spelling "Klaureen", behind the counter at the Passport Office said: "Sorry, you're smile's too big," as she looked…

The phone rang at midnight on Sunday; my good friend Lev, was calling from Montreal. "Hey man… It's dad's Yahrzeit tomorrow. You coming?" It's minus 33 degrees in Montreal, I might have just about made it back home to London alive - as a human…

Peter Rosengard (second left) with dignitaries including Boris Johnson and Simon Schama as the sculpture went on view at the Olympic Park A monument commemorating the 9/11 tragedy was unveiled this week, after a five-year search to find it a permanent home. Mayor Boris Johnson,…

The phone rang in my hotel room in Montego Bay; it was Shirleen the laundry supervisor. "Mr Rosengard? We're waving your underpants!" "That's wonderful news Shirleen." I said. "It must be a Jamaican New Year's custom I thought- 'Wave the Underpants Day!' She rang back;…

I'm not a shopper - only for one reason: I hate shopping. For one thing, it would interfere with my obsession for news. I love news -24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If it's happened anywhere in the world, I need to know…

'Dad, I really like your drawings and paintings; when you're dead I'm going to hold an exhibition of them." My daughter said to me one evening last summer. "Thank you darling," I said. "That's a really nice idea, but I've got a better one: why…