A surprisingly effective, if old-fashioned, term of abuse is to call someone “a shit”. Other insults are more forthright and rude but tend to be less precise in their meaning. A shit is sneaky, small-minded, unreliable, selfish and (for reasons no one quite understands) male. It is an unpleasant thing to be called. So when,… Continue reading Speak only good of the dead at least for a time
Read moreShooting from the hip, as has been her habit down the years, Doris Lessing used her acceptance of the Nobel Prize for Literature as an opportunity to take a pop at the great evils of our time: the decline of reading, the rule of Robert Mugabe, the way publishers promote young authors as if they… Continue reading Don’t be seduced by this clamour of voices
Read moreAt the Aldeburgh Documentary Festival on Sunday, Anthony Wall, the producer and director who has been responsible for many of the BBC Arena documentaries over the past 30 years, advanced a rather daring moral argument. The behaviour of society as a whole, and its institutions in particular, tend to reflect prevailing attitudes within its government,… Continue reading Institutional dishonesty has become the norm
Read moreFor as long as politics and cynicism have co-existed, the excuse of the apathetic non-voter has remained unchanged. Politicians? They’re all the same, aren’t they? Almost always, the line is demonstrably false, but in one area at least it is true. Big-time politicians like to make warm, supportive noises about local democracy but, when a… Continue reading Local democracy is fine (if you do as you’re told)
Read moreA couple of small but thrilling items of local news might be included in the papers of Hilary Benn when he travels to Bali next week for the United Nations’ great climate change conference. Ipswich Borough Council has announced that it is joining the great plastic-bag initiative. Warning that as a nation we produce 10… Continue reading Britain’s brand of fair-weather environmentalism
Read moreLike some freakish constellation in the night skies, three sports-related events have aligned this month to reveal a deep confusion in the British soul about the question of competition. Firstly, the moustachio’d old cove in charge of the Football Association announced that £12m or so is to be spent on a bid to host the… Continue reading If we want to win at sport, we need elitism
Read moreA goalkeeper for a pub or school team will know the feeling. The opposing team are advancing and – Phew! – one of their players makes the mistake of taking a ludicrously optimistic shot at goal from a long way out. As the ball approaches your welcoming arms, you have time to think of the… Continue reading Oh dear, the ball seems to be in the back of the net
Read moreWhen the moment comes for the year’s Great Britons to be selected, the name of Nora Hardwick must surely be among the nominees. This week, Nora has supported a local charity in the now-traditional way: she took off her clothes and posed for a calendar. Of course, hundreds of women are doing this sort of… Continue reading Please behave in an inappropriate manner
Read moreSome misplaced actorly instinct seemed to overcome Chris Langham as he prepared to face the world when he emerged from jail this week. He was unshaven, hollow-eyed and looked even more hangdog than usual. “My conscience is clear,” he told reporters after his sentence for downloading child pornography had been reduced on appeal, but that,… Continue reading Where morality is just an excuse for public bullying
Read moreAs Christmas comes early for thousands of infected turkeys and ducks in Suffolk, a familiar sound – a pained, lowing noise like a cow in labour – will soon be heard echoing across the countryside. A government agriculture minister will be expressing his heartfelt sympathies for the farmers of Britain. Since the days when Nick… Continue reading The cost of cheap food – and hot air
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