An enterprising sociologist might usefully write a thesis on lavatory paper as a reflection of the way our society has unravelled and unrolled over the past decade. In the early years of celebrity madness, the new queen of tabloid Britain...
Read moreThere is no fool quite like an English fool. In American films, the fool, usually played by Ben Stiller or Steve Martin, is essentially an ordinary person having a bad day. The French fool, from M Hulot onwards, has a...
Read moreThere are many practical advantages to government by panic, as our politicians have recently discovered. Fear is an excellent way to cut through awkward questions. In a pessimistic, timorous world, emotion beats reason into a cocked hat. Right now, government...
Read moreAlthough I'm relatively new to the blogosphere, I have received an on-line 'fisking' a few times. You know what a fisk is, of course. The blogger takes an article or blog with which he disagrees and rebuts (he thinks/hopes) point...
Read moreA glimpse into our political future. At a dinner held by the august book trade body, the Society of Bookmen, the shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey explained to senior publishers, booksellers and the odd author how a Conservative government would...
Read moreA somewhat snotty perspective of the life of the great JD Salinger, by John Sutherland on the Today programme, has been niggling away at me as I have read the more considered obituaries. Sutherland, who once wrote a book on...
Read moreAs a headline, "Journalist murdered in Mexico" is unlikely to set the pulse racing. Even a subhead reading "Government and police not particularly interested" would have most of us wearily turning to the home page for the latest news from...
Read moreBefore long there will probably be a Rufus Wainwright song about his mother, the great – and now late – Kate McGarrigle. Rufus's sister, Martha, might soon be working on a musical tribute, too. There could be something from Kate's...
Read moreIn the glorious city of Barcelona, it occurred to me that Spain is a country that political correctness forgot. Here people smoke cigarettes and cigars as they walk and talk and eat in restaurants. Their diet is almost entirely based...
Read moreIn the winter issue of The Author, the house magazine of the Society of Authors, I contributed to the gaiety of the season by considering some of the things which can go wrong for an author trying to get a...
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