tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-95019382012-02-02T14:10:14.125ZThe stiffest upper lip on the netBrithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comBlogger11871100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-90050394693352512612012-01-27T13:10:00.001Z2012-01-27T13:11:57.998Z

I discuss student hovels and review Bath Ales' latest venture, a craft beer bar: Beerd, on St Michael's Hill, Bristol.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-78492567390836392202012-01-20T20:38:00.000Z2012-01-20T20:39:04.667Z

I review Borgen (BBC Four) on The Dabbler.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-75059592945528199502012-01-18T22:34:00.002Z2012-01-18T22:38:20.391Z

Stony broke songs and Mervyn Peake on The Dabbler.And don't miss our exclusive self-interview - a coup for us - the great Jonathan Meades, on France.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-26119467490967742952012-01-10T13:35:00.001Z2012-01-10T13:36:09.366Z

Over at The Dabbler, I contemplate my brief mortality in a godless universe on Saunton Sands.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-35880299126661524792011-12-29T15:22:00.002Z2011-12-29T15:30:17.644Z

Although 2011 has been a quiet year for Think of England in terms of posts - The Dabbler inevitably takes up the majority of my blogging time (and I contribute to the Christmas and year end stuff over there this week) - nonetheless remarkable things have been happening deep within its bowels.For 2011 has been the year of Poddington, whose bizarre thoughts continue to accrue on the infamous Why

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-39108679011158266352011-12-06T11:28:00.003Z2011-12-07T11:53:21.475Z

We have doubled our number of daughters, to two.Elizabeth Orla, arrived Saturday at 11.55am. 7lb 9. Spit of her sister.All well, if sleepless.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-39476468838176899712011-12-01T19:47:00.001Z2011-12-01T19:48:25.909Z

...I'd have them all shot.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-88414029133744185202011-11-30T22:23:00.002Z2011-11-30T22:24:22.913Z

I list my complaints about Thom Yorke and talk about Radiohead's album The Bends here.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-48044340144824679082011-11-21T21:43:00.001Z2011-11-21T21:44:32.855Z

I grill Bryan Appleyard over at The Dabbler about his new book and also why he keeps stopping and starting blogging.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-59154908594806902382011-11-17T13:41:00.002Z2011-11-17T13:43:19.484Z

My review of The Brain is Wider Than the Sky by Bryan Appleyard is up at The Dabbler.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-26113763617047209432011-11-15T21:59:00.002Z2011-11-15T22:00:01.769Z

Another airing for my queasy Ilfracombe prose-poem at the Big D.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-25755217008417186542011-11-13T21:52:00.002Z2011-11-13T21:54:16.756Z

Entertaining the troops over at the Dabbler, with Gracie Fields, Glenn Miller, George Butterworth and Elvis singing gospel.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-139404193752165642011-11-10T08:39:00.003Z2011-11-10T08:45:23.680Z

I have become addicted to the nightly financial doom-fest that is Newsnight. This is eating into important reading and sleeping time and also making me depressed. What, I keep wondering, does 'the abyss' actually look like? Are we going to be just a bit poorer over the next decade or are we going to be eating each other?Anyway, Bryan Appleyard popped up on it last night, talking (too briefly,

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-47631416582202173532011-11-02T23:03:00.002Z2011-11-02T23:08:17.439Z

Could anything be more revealing of the true nature of the Great European Project than the Markozy reaction to Papandreou, who has broken the iron law of Pan-Euro politics: whatever you do, don't ask the people what they think.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-33499190849796420362011-11-02T09:48:00.001Z2011-11-02T09:50:18.415Z

Over at The Dabbler I commit heresy by criticising David Attenborough - or specifically, his neo-Malthusian theory of human population.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-58725328536151920902011-10-30T17:12:00.001Z2011-10-30T17:14:13.328Z

Over at The Dabbler I peer at some bespectacled popstars, including Buddy Holly (of course), Elvis Costello, Graham Coxon, plus a nasty surprise.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-11906423450727656352011-10-28T21:34:00.001+01:002011-10-28T21:36:13.676+01:00

There are many highly comical elements of the Occupy London/St Paul’s debacle – the Trustafarian queues for Starbucks, the empty tents, the misconceived ‘Elf and Safety’ fears, the general sense of it all being such a pointless waste of time – but one that has really tickled me is the martyrdom of Dr Giles Fraser, the Cathedral’s canon chancellor.He resigned from his post yesterday with “great

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-17082123036892118212011-10-26T13:07:00.000+01:002011-10-26T13:08:40.898+01:00

I put Second Coming into Record Rehab here.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-58757612786702017842011-10-17T13:13:00.001+01:002011-10-17T13:14:34.654+01:00

I address this and other questions about political satire in my review of The Comic Strip presents... The Hunt for Tony Blair.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-41304801020666045282011-10-16T22:30:00.004+01:002011-10-16T22:43:32.165+01:00

I was sorry to see Wales lose to France - not least because victory would have made my pal and Dabbler co-editor Gaw happy - but I confess I was nonplussed by the ITV commentators' furious reaction to the red card shown to Sam Warburton for his spear tackle on Vincent Clerc. It was a quite eye-wateringly dangerous act of violence, but they seemed to think a sin-binning would have been harsh.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-45036212888858554412011-10-16T14:49:00.002+01:002011-10-16T14:52:54.345+01:00

Over here I wonder what the music of Germany and Greece can tell us about their current relationship, locked in a loveless economic embrace.And I ponder the epistemological implications of England's defeat to France in the rugby last week.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-38751326261778990332011-10-05T13:32:00.002+01:002011-10-05T13:39:57.418+01:00

It surely tells you all you need to know about the prurient interest of the meedja in the Meredith Kercher murder case that it is nigh impossible to find a picture of Raffaele Sollecito in any report on the subject. Yesterday's Times devoted most of its front page and a couple of pictorial inside spreads to the news that Amanda Knox had been cleared of the crime, but you had to read a long way to

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-1589002521463937182011-10-05T13:30:00.002+01:002011-10-05T13:32:35.533+01:00

Over at the Dabbler - Flashman makes some modest remarks concerning the concept of American exceptionalism.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-2375193425397302532011-10-04T13:41:00.002+01:002011-10-04T13:45:53.859+01:00

Those who've been following the Johann Hari farce (including Nick Cohen, whose wikipedia entry was maliciously tampered with by Hari using the pseudonym David Rose) might enjoy today's Noseybonk on the Dabbler, in which the 'Bonk exclusively reveals Hari's first assignment at journalism school, entitled What I Did on My Holidays.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-75943892886130078842011-09-27T07:51:00.001+01:002011-09-27T07:53:13.751+01:00

At the Dabbler I review the new film of Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. I also drink alcohol at the cinema.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-3539183596543955982011-09-20T13:42:00.002+01:002011-09-20T13:43:21.363+01:00

At the Dabbler I review episode 1 of series 2 of Downton Abbey (ITV1, Sunday).

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-42042553390976901342011-09-15T20:01:00.001+01:002011-09-15T20:03:06.145+01:00

Over at The Dabbler I provide a short and, I think, rather poignant history of those typographical curioisities, ambigrams.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-80245052362817874692011-09-05T13:24:00.000+01:002011-09-05T13:30:06.263+01:00

A few weeks ago I found myself clamped in the teeth of a North Sea gale, on a bitter July Tuesday, trying to make a sandcastle from the brown sludge of Skegness beach. Read on for more of my adventures...

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-5161042337067041012011-09-04T19:41:00.003+01:002011-09-04T19:44:53.630+01:00

Poddington's Thoughts continue apace, despite my having deleted three of his posts for being racist drivel. Not viciously racist, just really weirdly racist. A couple of good ones from the last few days: Right, I am going to write one last piece to explain my theory. I believe I owe the readers of this site that much. and, brilliantly: Another thing that I have noticed is that I have

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-3645505356943111472011-09-04T19:36:00.002+01:002011-09-04T19:38:39.207+01:00

...would have been a good name for my music post In every dream home a heartache at The Dabbler, but it's too late now. L'esprit d'escalier again.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-70476694422373920712011-08-25T21:36:00.004+01:002011-08-26T07:11:15.146+01:00

My infamous Why the Scottish Hate the English post really is the gift that keeps on giving, in terms of random comments. I sometimes delete the overt filth, but even so there are now 90 on there, mostly rabid anti-English or anti-Scottish rants. However, over the last few weeks one 'Poddington' has been conducting an extraordinary Beckettian monologue, or perhaps dialogue with himself. Sample

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-6178093248280630372011-08-22T21:48:00.005+01:002011-08-22T22:25:09.807+01:00

In today's Times a snarky columnist called Sathnam Sanghera rightly takes ex-Blur bassist turned Cotswold cheese-maker Alex James (yes really) to task for saying: "the people who used to spend money on Blur records now buy cheese at the weekends". It is indeed a strikingly bizarre statement meaning, what? That cheese and music purchases are mutually exclusive? That Blur fans are particularly

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-40206678409724607882011-08-22T21:45:00.002+01:002011-08-22T21:47:21.473+01:00

My University Challenge Drinking Game, originally published during my stint on Mr Appleyard's blog a few years back, gets an airing on the Sabotage Times.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-45233077776438398892011-08-21T22:37:00.001+01:002011-08-21T22:38:58.629+01:00

I'm back on music duty on The Dabbler, with 'nonsense' tracks from Cocteau Twins, the Australian Pink Floyd, Sigur Ros and Underworld.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-52534174794778428632011-08-17T13:31:00.003+01:002011-08-17T13:33:47.189+01:00

And another old Dabbler article at the Sabotage Times (where, apparently, I look like a psychopath). This time the great Sid Waddell. The subs seem to have lost all the italics in which I encased the Waddellisms, which makes for a suitably disorienting read.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-21808337800791736242011-08-14T13:26:00.004+01:002011-08-14T21:46:49.834+01:00

My Dabbler piece about Shane MacGowan appears today in a slightly amended form at the Sabotage Times. The eds there have retitled it 'Shane MacGowan: Champion Boozer and Lyrical Genius'. That wouldn't have been my choice as I don't like talking about alcoholism, a disease, in celebratory terms like 'champion', but hopefully the article still makes that point.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-69687712121305865722011-08-10T21:44:00.002+01:002011-08-10T21:46:30.118+01:00

... you review a TV programme and the series producer himself comes along and gives you a bollocking. But it has just happened to me.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-11464062363395259692011-08-09T23:18:00.005+01:002011-08-10T09:23:01.748+01:00

My God, did anyone see Harriet Harman's disgraceful performance on Newsnight tonight? Michael Gove nearly exploded, which I must say showed a remarkable degree of self-control on his part. I think I would have throttled her. You can watch it (from 32m 37s) here. Meanwhile I Dabble here on the London riots, Great Thinkers and the Beeb.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-66995178216883249152011-08-05T13:16:00.002+01:002011-08-05T13:23:34.611+01:00

Thanks to all you brothers and sisters in bloggery who commented on my Flashman post at the Sabotage Times - much appreciated.I've been brushing up on George MacDonald Fraser for a longer, less laddish piece which will hopefully be published in another organ, and in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord I came across this description of a politician: "[He] was your complete politico, with the

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-36373839403437712132011-07-24T19:56:00.004+01:002011-07-25T07:59:45.339+01:00

Long-time readers will recall that Amy Winehouse featured regularly on ToE about five years ago. I championed her singing generally and her wonderful album Back to Black particularly - it was possibly the best pop record of the noughties. She made it big but her self-destructive years since have been painful to watch and on Saturday she died, at the age of 27. I pay tribute to her at The Dabbler.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-72763791005384214572011-07-24T19:52:00.003+01:002011-07-24T19:56:00.424+01:00

Over at the Dabbler I contemplate the chillin'-loungin'-groovin'-funkin' spectrum. Yes, there's not a word-endin' 'g' in sight.And there's a repeat of my post about the world's worst poet, William McGonagall.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-75998949698712575592011-07-19T13:17:00.003+01:002011-07-19T13:20:29.605+01:00

I write about Flashman over at the ST (that's the Sabotage Times, not the Sunday ones). Unusually, I do this under my real name and, watch out, there's a mugshot.Since the Sabotage Times is James Brown's organ (others have included Loaded and GQ) I focus on the laddish elements of the series.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-16999960946342525822011-07-06T20:53:00.001+01:002011-07-06T20:54:33.325+01:00

And I've also written about a painting by Marinus van Reymerswaele.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-26008655336815883742011-07-06T20:48:00.002+01:002011-07-06T20:51:15.851+01:00

Tough few weeks lately, but I have managed to contribute to the Dabbler review of Rupert Thomson's excellent This Party's Got to Stop and also conducted a Q&A with the author.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-52176477157301974142011-06-26T21:08:00.001+01:002011-06-26T21:09:35.443+01:00

My Lazy Sunday features two unexpected covers, a voice that can melt the wax in your ears and Tom Jones dancing like a maniac.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-67255671962458456672011-06-24T10:58:00.001+01:002011-06-24T11:01:00.001+01:00

Interesting discussion about the game of Spite, over at The Dabbler.Oh yes and on Monday I posted the extraordinary story of the Hobyahs.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-44657168983967304602011-06-20T06:50:00.002+01:002011-06-20T07:03:04.671+01:00

ToE readers will not be surprised to hear that Isner and Mahut have been drawn together once again in the first round of Wimbledon.Isner and Mahut are perfectly balanced yin-yang anti-doppelgangers who, since they 'found' each other in last year's impossible tennis match, have been living together in a wooden hut high in the Himalayas, where they spend their days playing out endless chess

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-67696903134758013532011-06-13T09:48:00.001+01:002011-06-13T09:48:39.181+01:00

Yesterday I posted about electronic music at the Big D.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-18399749425595204802011-06-10T11:58:00.012+01:002011-06-10T13:35:37.353+01:00

Over at Nige's place I appear to have accidentally invented a new poetic form - the 'Double Dactyl Plus', with this poem:Double Dactyl E-Coli TheoryBenedict Cumberbatchbrought a cucumber backfrom his vacationin Las Palmas de Gran.Engelbert Humperdinkmugged him and nicked the thing,Took it to Krautland;That’s how it began.(To explain: previous Double Dactyl poems had merely rhymed the last line of

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-22167614267240376362011-06-09T08:49:00.004+01:002011-06-09T08:52:17.045+01:00

Over at The Dabbler I expound on a topic previously explored on Think of England, namely Found Poetry.Yes I know, I know, but look I can't keep coming with brand new topics all the time, dammit.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-88854338334264527522011-06-08T09:21:00.002+01:002011-06-08T09:23:26.916+01:00

I contribute to the Dabbler Book Club review of Tim Binding's novel The Champion here.I alone praise it. Tough crowd, the Dabbler Book Club.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-36328831837883368242011-06-03T22:11:00.002+01:002011-06-03T22:14:56.610+01:00

On the Beeb's cricket text commentary today, the banter turned to tattoos, and some wag emailed in to suggest that if Geoffrey Boycott were to get a tattoo, it would be one of his own face... On his own face.I found this idea both amusing and philosophically intriguing. I shall muse on it at length, and see what emerges.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-56540285972910959502011-06-03T12:10:00.002+01:002011-06-03T12:10:35.309+01:00

Over at the Dabbler I write about Shane MacGowan.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-29550307058791360812011-05-26T14:52:00.001+01:002011-05-26T14:54:31.682+01:00

Brit Jnr Minor is due on 29 November 2011.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-43679880654367506642011-05-26T14:45:00.003+01:002011-05-26T14:52:21.010+01:00

I review Elif Batuman's fantastically entertaining book The Possessed here. If you're in the Book Club you can win a copy. I've exchanged a few emails with Elif (she's lovely and very, very smart) after getting her address from the inestimable Dave Lull, a fan of hers.Via Elif I got in touch with her UK publicist, Henry Jeffreys, another lovely person whom I met in London last week at the

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-45273050854478008202011-05-24T12:02:00.002+01:002011-05-24T12:05:57.741+01:00

I contribute to the Dabbler's compendium post marking Bob Dylan's 70th birthday.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-80562058522049284762011-05-23T16:47:00.002+01:002011-05-23T16:49:10.344+01:00

Blogmanship is currently top of the tree in The Browser's Arts and Entertainment page. Take that, New York Review of Books and Times Literary Supplement!

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-71870138209421655692011-05-23T11:01:00.007+01:002011-05-23T11:19:59.726+01:00

It's very gratifying to see some budding blogmen taking enthusiastically to Noseybonk's recommended ploys. See these highly amusing comment threads at Metafilter and Reddit.The fifth and final extract, including Hostmanship and Blogwomanship, was on Friday's Dabbler. Plenty more unserialised material in the book proper.Buy it today you tightfisted swines! If you really do hate eBooks, you can

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-82742815350009503322011-05-19T10:29:00.003+01:002011-05-19T10:32:41.216+01:00

...including Moral Indignationship, Above-the-fray play and Wriggling Out of Arguments you have Clearly Lost, in today's Blogmanship extract on The Dabbler.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-69206214274750185312011-05-18T10:52:00.001+01:002011-05-18T10:53:41.851+01:00

Today's excerpt from Blogmanship looks at how Britons and Americans can annoy each other on the internet...

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-58820770519257930012011-05-17T09:06:00.003+01:002011-05-17T09:11:11.637+01:00

In today's extract from Blogmanship, Or How to Win Arguments on the Internet Without Really Knowing What You Are Talking About, Noseybonk examines the blogman's basic tools, including Logicplay and aggressive bookrecommending. Buy it now!

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-63438514038132688322011-05-16T11:08:00.004+01:002011-05-16T11:18:11.758+01:00

All this week The Dabbler is serialising Noseybonk's hilarious and essential new handbook Blogmanship – Or, How To Win Arguments On The Internet Without Really Knowing What You Are Talking About.Part 1 is here.You can buy the complete eBook for just £2 as a PDF direct from The Dabbler, or as an eBook from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com for £2.81 (or $3.99). Enjoy!

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-22930959173883914612011-05-15T19:52:00.002+01:002011-05-15T19:56:57.054+01:00

Over at the Dabbler I 'review' James Joyce's Ulysses, if you can believe such a thing. Some very good comments trail it.And today's Lazy Sunday is about feeling miserable in New York, Paris and London.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-71609981746240191682011-05-11T10:58:00.001+01:002011-05-11T10:59:29.248+01:00

Over at The Dabbler I review episode one of The Apprentice (BBC1).

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-44237038547318313052011-05-10T16:36:00.002+01:002011-05-10T16:37:46.819+01:00

Yes, yes he is.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-2490732925401832292011-05-09T08:58:00.003+01:002011-05-09T08:59:49.529+01:00

I'm on Lazy Sunday duties at the big D - horns in pop, including Dexys, Love, The Specials and Radiohead ft Humphrey Lyttelton.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-68355460702256759632011-05-06T11:43:00.001+01:002011-05-06T11:45:25.625+01:00

Funnily enough, I voted ‘Yes’ to AV in the end - as predicted a last-minute decision, and largely because the other vote – the council election – gave me a clear indication of the particular failings of FPTP.Bristol St George West, not a salubrious area, is a straight fight between Lib Dems and Labour. I would naturally want to vote Conservative, but it’s a waste of time. Therefore I voted for

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-10533259175770258262011-05-06T11:21:00.001+01:002011-05-06T11:23:23.321+01:00

Over at The Dabbler I review The Shadow Line (BBC 2). Not glowingly, it must be said.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-27014163325504652762011-05-04T11:39:00.004+01:002011-05-04T11:46:08.581+01:00

Via Jon Hotten I find this flesh-crawlingly weird Huffpo article by one Steve Mariotti, about his encounters with his intellectual idol Ayn Rand.After the first meeting:This incident cut me deeply. I was so scarred by the rejection that I couldn't even tell anyone about it for 15 years.And after the third:It was like someone had taken a hot knife to my stomach...This final communication hurt so

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-14606978981689227412011-05-03T09:32:00.002+01:002011-05-03T09:36:13.183+01:00

Also at the Big D, I contribute to the Dabbler Book Club's review of Germania by Simon Winder.Germania is a book that pulls off the remarkable trick of being simultaneously very entertaining and very boring. Weird.The Book Club is doing a novel next, and we've also got publishers queuing up to give away freebies, prize draws etc, so make sure you join today - it's free.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-36192172441908601932011-05-03T09:26:00.002+01:002011-05-03T09:31:10.206+01:00

Lots of things to be patriotically proud about this weekend. Our gutter press is not one of them but Kate is – a sensible pretty English upper middle-class girl who, having been going out with a Prince for a decade, bravely enters her gilded, paparazzi-patrolled prison with eyes open.So, a cynicism-defyingly joyful Royal Wedding, Manchester United lose and they kill Osama bin Laden; yes, I’d call

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-64673763634841595082011-04-28T09:16:00.003+01:002011-04-28T09:41:02.498+01:00

Popping over to Nick Cohen’s place I notice two things. First, that he’s had a redesign (a significant improvement, too). Second, that in the process he’s cut Think of England from his list of ‘Comrades’. Such are the thanks one gets for buying his book twice and pointing out the mini-roundabout in Upper Street, Islington.This cruel, cruel snub I’m sure has nothing to do with the argument we had

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-9830581875744399512011-04-28T09:10:00.002+01:002011-04-28T09:13:46.707+01:00

Today Jonathon Green kicks off The Dabbler's Big Royal Wedding Jamboree with an eye-watering dictionary of nuptial slang...Frank Key, Susan Muncey, Worm and Mahlerman will also be contributing special Wills'n'Kate related posts over the weekend...

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-46172482079071233212011-04-27T16:19:00.000+01:002011-04-27T16:20:24.674+01:00

It’s virtually impossible to find any sort of meaty arguments for or against replacing FPTP with the AV system, principally, I now suspect, because being a compromise system that nobody really wants, there aren’t any.I’m opposed to pure proportional representation because it produces corrupt, irremovable coalition governments and severs the already often weak link between the MP and his local

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-2764929524011425622011-04-27T10:29:00.002+01:002011-04-27T10:36:38.170+01:00

On my new phone (Nokia N8 – the camera is amazing, 12 megapixels!) I write text messages with a qwerty touchscreen, and it suddenly occurred to me that I might never use the predictive text number-pad method again.I liked predictive text a great deal. First, it worked against yoof ‘txt-speak’, which was supposed to be about to wreck the language (Shakespeare rendered as '2b or nt 2b' etc) and

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-36334450490602099182011-04-19T14:01:00.005+01:002011-04-19T14:22:43.985+01:00

Norm Geras has been running a series of posts about how Greens are instinctively anti-Israel. There's further evidence today that anti-Semitism is now a left-wing thing as the Scottish Green Party launches its manifesto and, on page 25, announces that it will seek to boycott Israel but mentions no other countries as being problematic.Greens are fanatics unable to think clearly and are therefore

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-10884631193799042932011-04-19T12:25:00.002+01:002011-04-19T12:26:06.454+01:00

Over at The Dabbler I set the latest fiendish Round Blogworld Quiz.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-49012001457099113672011-04-19T10:00:00.004+01:002011-04-19T10:07:51.163+01:00

Rod Lidl writes a lot of sloppy, pointlessly provocative tosh (as Nick Cohen knows, it's not easy to keep generating controversial angles and moral outrage to deadline), but this is very good:Not-London does not think like London; it has its own ideas. And these ideas have diverged from those of the capital over the last 20 years; they were always a little distant, but never so much as they are

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-9137295002783065412011-04-18T15:50:00.004+01:002011-04-18T15:55:46.096+01:00

Via Nige I discover this riveting BBC article about cardboard boxes, which includes perhaps the greatest introductory paragraph ever written:We've all been there. Surrounded by clutter, left with nothing to house the mess. Enter the cardboard box. I’ve been trying to come up with an homage that might do justice to its majesty (see the comments). Alas my imitations are pale, the best I’ve managed

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-50118234026098414092011-04-15T14:55:00.003+01:002011-04-15T14:57:30.192+01:00

Has anyone yet managed to see a single story in any paper or media outlet about the News of the World phone-hacking scandal that doesn't feature a large image of the lovely Sienna Miller?

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-17987481414081880142011-04-15T12:36:00.002+01:002011-04-15T12:38:33.734+01:00

Over at The Dabbler I review Spiral (BBC Four). It's being hyped as 'the new The Killing', but in fact this is the third series. I provide the complete lowdown on it thus far.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-43572656634064094062011-04-14T09:09:00.003+01:002011-04-14T09:15:04.261+01:00

Over at The Dabbler, I write, in conjunction with Jassy, about Sipsmith Gin and Vodka.A remarkable little operation. Two extremely well-spoken CamCleggy types called Sam and Fairfax operate out of a small shack in Hammersmith, which contains this bloody fantastic gin-making machine called Prudence.London really is an endlessly amazing place.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-35098682177086430932011-04-13T10:10:00.002+01:002011-04-13T10:13:27.841+01:00

Whenever I encounter such shameless name-dropping as this, I simply end all competition by stating the fact that Terry Nutkins once came to my house.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-58713342287149138262011-03-31T11:14:00.001+01:002011-03-31T11:14:23.759+01:00

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-7661443870455356302011-03-29T10:24:00.003+01:002011-03-29T10:27:24.331+01:00

It is 1989 and I am at school. Our French teacher – a real French Mademoiselle, with all that entails (worshipped resentfully by the boys, loathed by the girls) – requires us to say, en français, the name of our favourite act from the world of le musique pop. So far every single member of the class has repeated the same phrase : “J’aime INXS.” I have watched them all say it, one by one, with

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-73898265555468176202011-03-23T11:07:00.001Z2011-03-23T11:08:45.655Z

Today i am going to be writing about the Budget. Strictly yawnsville, man.Much more importantly, you should work out what 'Brow' you are with The Dabbler's Style Guide.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-44658284242336281972011-03-21T12:47:00.002Z2011-03-21T12:48:02.822Z

Over at The Dabbler I spend a penny and review The Golden Ocean by Patrick O'Brian.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-40534337527398854462011-03-18T15:33:00.005Z2011-03-18T15:48:52.808Z

It was a sorry thing, seeing Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn on last night's Newsnight. He was representing the Stop the War Coalition, which has decided to oppose any international attempts to save Libyans from Gaddafi's thugocracy (even though this time it's 'legal' and even the French and the Arabs are for it and the Russians not against it (so that whole UN legality thing was in fact irrelevant in

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-42161235404757351982011-03-16T11:16:00.002Z2011-03-16T11:18:16.100Z

Over there I review new BBC4 comedy Twenty Twelve.Oh, and commenters on the Dabbler can now win a bottle of Glengoyne whisky, simply by saying stuff on the internet.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-19164584652925437352011-03-14T09:12:00.002Z2011-03-14T09:36:04.220Z

On Sunday morning I was singing, as a chap sometimes will for reasons of his own which require no justification, George Michael’s hit song Careless Whisper.Now few realise that George Michael wrote Careless Whisper in an unusual key, namely B Flat Whine Major. Achieving the strained falsetto demanded by this key requires long and dedicated practice, particularly for the prolonged “yoo-hoooo-oooo”

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-90819496785236175612011-03-10T10:01:00.003Z2011-03-10T10:07:29.945Z

O, Think of England, if I have been neglecting you it is only because I have been devoting my time to furious capitalist activities over at the Dabbler, all alcohol-based, including signing a spectacularly lucrative deal with Glengoyne whisky - see Ian Buxton's review here.You should all also enter the Bath Ales competition pronto. You'll thank me for this one day.Meanwhile, me old mucker Craig

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-38456367840497468132011-03-04T17:11:00.001Z2011-03-04T17:13:07.863Z

Today I have a Normblog profile here.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-51506650364324191702011-03-03T11:17:00.004Z2011-03-03T11:20:07.677Z

Over at The Dabbler I review Jamie's Dream School (Channel 4). And when I saw 'review', I mean I take a sledgehammer to it, smash it into smithereens, then take each of those smithereens and smash them into super-smithereens, then I gather the super-smithereens into a bag, put them on a bonfire, burn them, put the ashes into an urn and fire the urn into the heart of the sun.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-37268404983948651012011-03-02T14:46:00.002Z2011-03-02T14:49:21.906Z

Elberry sends me news that the cupcake craze has, inevitably and predictably, descended into hopeless bloody violence.Mother smashes up shop that ran out of her favourite cupcake.I can't honestly say I'm shocked, merely saddened.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-27927089102683735902011-03-01T14:22:00.002Z2011-03-01T14:25:03.354Z

Win some free beer, get some free recipes and support the Dabbler by entering an exclusive Bath Ales competition here.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-6934215499788921242011-03-01T09:18:00.002Z2011-03-01T09:27:41.088Z

Good to see the BBC doing its duty re the Anglo-Saxon Protestant Work Ethic. The concluding moral of this morning's edition of Chuggington - a train-based entertainment on CBeebies, in front of which I sometimes stick Brit Jnr to divert her while I make our breakfast - was "Remember Chuggers, hobbies are what you do in your spare time. The daytime is for learning and working."I wonder if they

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-32160765923124338002011-02-28T13:43:00.003Z2011-02-28T13:46:01.556Z

I was on Lazy Sunday duty again yesterday, with some Chet Baker, Scott Walker and even Erasure.And today I spend a penny and review the extraordinary, neglected classic A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-57400067783298475732011-02-25T12:31:00.002Z2011-02-25T12:33:27.264Z

Over at the dabbler I interview Andy Davidson and write about the extremely desirable Glencairn whisky glass.We're getting some lovely Dabbler-branded editions, and you'll be able to get your hands on one later....

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-63647060507106752952011-02-25T09:26:00.001Z2011-02-25T09:29:34.828Z

Yesterday evening, after a long day’s roaming, I was relaxing with a pint in the Bonaparte bar at Bristol Temple Meads rail station when in walked Caroline Lucas MP, flanked by flunkies. She was there, it eventually became clear, to be interviewed by a national newspaper journalist whom I recognised but can’t for the life of me name (poss early 60s, genial but jowly, white hair, black eyebrows.)

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9501938.post-91163418927800813432011-02-23T12:40:00.001Z2011-02-23T12:41:52.753Z

Keen TofE followers may recognise today's Dabbler subject - the wonderful Sir John Soane's House museum.

Brithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.com0