Curtis Bowman: Theodore DalrympleHere’s an interesting blog piece (what IS the word for a small section of a blog? – entry perhaps?) on Theodore Dalrymple (who would have guessed that’s a pseudonym?) whose writings I have often been intrigued by. Curtis Bowman is not unsympathetic, but objects to TD’s dogmatism. I know what he means,… Continue reading Theodore Dalrymple
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Nothing but the truthMore here from Jonathan Coe on BS Johnson. Coe makes the point that Johnson used the novel as a form, which might contain anything, including autobiography. The novel, in this view, doesn’t have to be fiction. In that sense, Johnson compares to the early heroes of… Continue reading Coe on Johnson
Guardian Unlimited Books | Special Reports | Top prize for biography of writer who won no glory This is good to see. The Samuel Johnson Prize has been awarded to the obscenely talented Jonathan Coe for his biography of the almost forgotten – but not now – experimental novelist of the sixties, BS Johnson. His… Continue reading B.S. Johnson triumph
On the way to work today, I overtook a lorry with the legend: “Rawlings Transport – keeping it real”. I don’t know where to begin on this – “keeping it real” was what hippies in Haight Ashbury did in 1967. Why a transport company – sorry, logistics solutions provider – should feel the urge to… Continue reading Meaningless slogans once more
The OU’s new expensive advertising campaign campaign hit the TV screens last night. The slogan they’ve gone with is “Powering People”, which makes it sound like they’ll be plugging students into the National Grid. This might not be such a bad thing, on reflection…Even so, there’s an ever-rising number of these mindless taglines, and I… Continue reading More Meaningless Slogans…
The Observer | Business | John Naughton: Log into the confessional, my sonInteresting article from John Naughton, whose Observer column is always worth a read. I hadn’t heard of this peculiarly named Vannavar Bush before, but he seems to have had some far-sighted ideas. The idea of association was, of course, very much part of… Continue reading The Internet and Associations
Guy Fawkes’ blog of parliamentary plots, rumours and conspiracyCame across this blog by accident. I’m obviously not keeping up very well, since it’s clearly a pretty famous blog. Entertaining, intelligent and, as the Grauniad says, incendiary in places.Unsurprisingly, Guido doesn’t have a full profile, so I wonder who he is. Obviously London-based, and clearly someone… Continue reading This guy’s hot…
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Degree devaluation, from Lucky Jim to Average JoeMuch food for thought in this article. What Jackie Ashley doesn’t go into is the “university as lifestyle choice” brigade. These students are interested in the parties and the fun, but not the work. Two anecdotes to underline this: I confronted… Continue reading What’s a degree worth?
Flickr: Photos from spencro This link will show you a picture of Boris, our excellent male cat, companion of Phoebe. He likes being upside down, and is therefore a good mascot for Topsyturvydom. He also features on my profile – why would you want a picture of me?
You have to imagine it’s Alan Whicker saying that…This is my first attempt at blogging. The title, Topsyturvydom, is intended to suggest a few characteristics: quirky, wide-ranging, sceptical – what newspapers always used to call ” a sideways look at…” I’m interested in lots of topics, and hope to post on anything and everything, but… Continue reading Hello World