My Blog

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Pinter wins Nobel literary prize I suppose this is not entirely unexpected, though it will cause much harrumphing in certain quarters. I can’t help feeling that this is not so much an award for his literary output – what has he done in the last few years, really?…

BBC NEWS | England | West Yorkshire | Row over second-hand city slogan This is a hoot (Leeds in-joke). Two things need to be said. First, in answer to the councillors who asked whether the city has got value for £150,000 research and launch costs, the answer is NO. The second thing, leaving aside the…

BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | Fergie ‘too famous’ for bill banI’m with the judge here – the prospect of a Fergie doll is just too gruesome to contemplate. Presumably it would have auto red face function and special hairdryer effect…

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Arts | Diplomat ‘was real Shakespeare’…to which the most obvious reply is “yeah, right.” I wonder why there is such an industry trying to prove that Shakespeare didn’t write the plays. Jonson, who had an even less privileged background than Shakespeare, has never, to my knowledge, been doubted as the…

BBC NEWS | Education | Literary greats ‘key to English’ Well – who knew, eh?

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | The price of unfairnessMore on the Marlborough boy. Mark Lawson points out that the case is symptomatic of a society in which people think money entitles them to anything. I’m reminded of a student who didn’t attend, nor do any work, and didn’t respond to messages asking him to contact…

Girl arrested over Bollocks to Blair shirt – Horse&Hound Online Here’s a first – a link to a story in Horse and Hound, not the urban vegetarian’s journal of choice. But this is ludicrous. No police were present at my workplace today when I was confronted by a trainee primary teacher wearing a tee-shirt with…

BBC NEWS | England | Wiltshire | Schoolboy told Pc he was ‘scum’More on this hilarious case, which I have mentioned before. I wonder if the father has ever stopped to think what he can possibly achieve? In the highly unlikely event of a successful prosecution, is he really going to send his son back…

Chez Topsyturvydom, the evening meal normally takes place around 8. We tend to be accompanied by our newish digital radio (about three years’ worth of Nectar points since you ask) which is great unless it’s a Tuesday and Radio 2 has “The Organist Entertains”. If Radio 3 has what we musical boffins call “plinky plonky”…

Tagged by Kat – I’ll have to find a better hiding place. OK:7 things I plan to do before I die: 1) Live a lot longer2) Get fitter3) Visit New Zealand4) Experience Il Carnevale in Venice5) Write a novel6) Dance7) Discover how to sleep comfortably with two cats on the bed 7 things I can…