Slightly belatedly, because it went live more than a week ago, welcome to my spruced up, redesigned blog. I love it. And I hope you love it too: let me know. The blog functionality is powered by WordPress: a free bit of open source software that I can’t praise highly enough. Not only is it […]
Welcome to my new blog Read More »
I’m 90% certain that I’ll have a pop at NaNoWriMo this year. Never heard of it? Basically, you have the 30 days of November to write 50,000 words. Why would I do this? In my desk drawer there are three hefty chunks of novels in various unfinished states. The first I worked on for about
Thinking about NaNoWriMo Read More »
Satire lives. I thought that everyone had been enjoying Tina Fey’s totally brilliant impersonation of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live for the past few weeks. But several people I know haven’t seen it and more than that, the Governor of Alaska’s genuine appearance on SNL last night has just been reported on Radio 4
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live Read More »
The Eccles Institute for American Studies hosted a fascinating talk at the British Library on Monday evening. Entitled ‘Alistair Cooke: Reporting America, Reporting Britain’ and commemorating the centenary of the great journalist and broadcaster’s birth, the panel reflected on the differences and similarities in journalistic culture both sides of the Atlantic. (Really a terrible pic,
Reporting America, Reporting Britain Read More »
It certainly has a Tardis-like charm and has provided me with a lot, an awful lot, of hot water. But it’s 23 years old and has been replaced by an upstart combi boiler. If your boiler says ‘Made in West Germany’ on it, may I suggest it’s time to bid farewell?
Using Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food as a hook, the Guardian published an interesting piece about how class is a key determinant of diet and always has been. There’s much lefty hand-wringing about working folk munching on takeaways and high-calorie, high-fat food with little nutritional value. Not so much angst though that they wouldn’t take
The Guardian on Class and Diet. Would you like Fries with that? Read More »
It’s one of those things that I can’t square. I like The Sun. And yet The Sun is full of nonsense, knee-jerk near Nazism on occasion. But it is also a humourous and brilliantly crafted newspaper that knows its readers. Here’s the sort of thing it does so well. I was flicking through my (papery)
The Sun and Middle-class Angst Read More »
I spent two hours phoning voters on Saturday afternoon, on behalf of the Labour party. From a personal perspective, it’s an activity I loathe. After all, who wants to be disturbed by an activist (of any persuasion) on a glorious sunny Saturday afternoon? I’d rather give them my mobile number so they can phone me
Lots of Love. Labour’s not lost. Read More »
According to the new Scrabble game on Facebook, Latin is not in the dictionary. Shurely shome mishtake?
Latin is not in the Dictionary Read More »
Eyes down, look in. As I sat watching paint dry, I wondered whether this was just too dull, too pointless or too trivial to blog. But no, I decided I would make my dullest blog post ever. My windows before and after cleaning, as seen from my desk. Enjoy. Amended to add this, at Lynne‘s
In Praise of Window Cleaners Read More »
The Brighton Trunk Murders are the stuff of legend. In Brighton, people still talk about the unrelated murders of two women whose remains were left in trunks in 1934. The crime involving the pregnant decapitated torso with ‘pretty feet’ was never solved. In the other case, Tony Mancini was acquitted of the murder of Violette
The Brighton Trunk Murders: A Very Modern Tale. Read More »
… Visited Chicago. A beautiful, relaxed and entertaining city. The weakness of the dollar made things so pleasingly affordable. … Seen Kaki King and, also, The Tigerlillies. She was a bit dull, if worthy. They were hysterically anarchic and rude. Guess which one I preferred. … Travelled in an Austin 7 to Dorset. All good
… become an enthusiastic, if not expert, gardener. The sweet peas, rocket, herbs, tomatoes, spinach and lettuces are coming along. The petunias, lupins and marigolds have been savaged by cats and snails. Grr. … Enjoyed Vampire Weekend in Camden (but not at the Great Escape in Brighton). Still loving the Kings of PrepPop. … Started