Joe Levy

1228 days ago

Losing my shirt and my temper as England lose deservedly & those I come to despise

We can talk of awful fouls and the penalty curse but should not deny that Italy played better football and deserved to win the European Championship. No doubt many of us are still in denial on that matter today but the statistics do not lie. I say this as someone who came into the tournament not supporting England for a range of reasons but who was won over by the charm of the young squad and of the manager and by the way it seemed to unite and give joy to the whole country. All of those involved in England did their country proud. I shall now go back to supporting Northern Ireland, but in this tournament the match against the Hun was the key turning point for me.

1238 days ago

Joe Levy you are not alone – conversation in the Metsovo hotel with new Israeli friends

I have written before about Olaf’s godfather Joe. In his mother’s stomach, he left Corfu just in time in 1941 when the Italians were in charge, heading to Egypt and then to Israel before washing up in England. Those Jews who did not get out in time were shipped out by the Germans en masse, when the Hun took over from the Italians, first to Piraeus then, by train, to Auschwitz.

1760 days ago

Photo Article: on #HolocaustMemorial Day a candle burns here in Wales

I wonder if, in places like bourgeois East Oxford where at least one house in every street flies a Palestinian flag all year round, how many candles are burning this Holocaust Memorial Day. I suspect rather more will be burning on Friday as the chattering classes mourn our exit from the European Superstate founded a few years after the last failed attempt at European unification.

2490 days ago

Podcast - Holocaust Memorial Day, reflections on 4 who escaped who I know or knew

Today is HMD and I reflect on four folks I know or knew who were not killed for various reasons: the author Janos Nyiri - who I remembered here,  my daughter's godfather Joe Levy from Corfu (see here), her godmother Iska and also Moya Carter/Waterfield. I look at more recent examples of genocide and also at the inexplicable acceptance of antisemitism as almost acceptable in some circles today. 

2855 days ago

It is Holocaust Memorial day - my thoughts as a candle burns in this house

I once dated a woman who, it turned out, was a holocaust denier. That is to say she started to argue that the numbers had been greatly exaggerated. I ended that relationship on the spot. The problem is that you cannot argue with a denier.

What is a fact? 

4503 days ago

Visiting The Corfu Synagogue – the Meaning of Holocaust

I have written before about Joe Levy, godfather to Olivia and my very good friend. We met when he was the handyman who looked after – among other things – a house in Swiss Cottage converted into six flats where I lived with Olivia’s mother. The two houses I bought/co-bought after that were redesigned by me and Joe put my ideas into practice. He is truly a faultless human being, bar his support for Chelsea. He was born here in Corfu and is, as you may have guessed, Jewish.

Yesterday I followed the sign to the “Jewish Quarter.” There is no real quarter just a synagogue which is in impeccable condition, is fully renovated and was being cared for by a rather fat old lady who was talking animatedly in Hebrew to some Israeli visitors. Needless to say she also spoke perfect English. The building is more than 400 years old. And in 1940 there were around 2000 Jews living on the Island – among them Joe Levy then still wearing nappies.