by Emil Rem | Jan 1, 2026 | Analects
I have two favourite films. Yesterday, I took the afternoon off to watch Casablanca. It is December 1941. The Germans have overrun Europe. Refugees flood Casablanca, desperate to obtain passes for neutral Portugal, and from there to America. Casablanca is under the...
by Emil Rem | Dec 25, 2025 | Analects
“Rapa, poom, poom, poom.” “Rapa, poom, poom, poom.” We can hear the sousaphones pumping from ten blocks away, off Frederick Street, Nassau. It’s Junkanoo time in The Bahamas. “Hurry up, kids — and Laura. We’ll be late.” The taxi drops the four of us at the corner of...
by Emil Rem | Dec 18, 2025 | Analects
When my kids were kids, our favourite time of day was reading to them at bedtime. Coming from England, I inundated them with The Wind in the Willows, Peter Pan, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and The Happy Prince. As they grew older, we turned to Harry Potter....
by Emil Rem | Dec 11, 2025 | Analects
My mum—“She Who Must Be Obeyed”—divorced when I was five and took me with her to England. My dad remained in Tanzania, working for East African Airways. Every school break, Dad sent me free tickets home. But for my seventeenth birthday, he outdid himself:...
by Emil Rem | Nov 27, 2025 | Analects
Fat Charlie, the Archangel, sloped into the room. “Have I got good news for you! A job that’ll pay you five thousand dollars a month.” To his associates, Charlie was regarded more as a grey angel — if not a black one. Imagine a super-sized Father Christmas: white hair...
