The Mike Dibb season

How can we pass the time? There is a benevolent conspiracy to share the various goodies on offer, particularly the ones that are free. So here’s yet another shout out for my best friend, The Guardian. Three weeks ago they warned me about the Mike Dibb season, running at the Whitechapel Gallery from January to March. “Mike Dibb” may not immediately ring bells, but “Ways of Seeing” might. John Berger’s series of four films about art and the way we look at it was hugely influential. So, the first week of this season there they are, all four of them, because they were produced by Mike Dibb. In the second week, I catch up with two of my socialist heroes, Raymond Williams and C.L.R. James. I knew they were coming, but there’s also another stunning film about creativity, featuring talking heads I’ve never heard of, which is just brilliant. You have to be quick, because they’re only there for a week, before they move on to the next batch. (Q: Did Mike Dibb ever sleep?)

And this week (starting yesterday, which is why I’m telling you now) there’s a brilliant film about Moorish Andalusia - “Mirrors of Paradise.” I’m lucky, because I’ve visited (and written poems about) the irrigation of the Generalife, the mosque at Cordoba, and it was gorgeous to be reminded. But if these things are only names then you still need to watch this, as a brilliant introduction to the various ways in which this wonderful, tolerant civilisation stimulated architecture and cooking, music and writing, horticulture and art. Google Whitechapel Gallery, click on the Mike Dibb section, click on “here”, and away you go.