Mahlerman explains what conductors actually do in an orchestra, with a look at three of the greats... A few weeks ago revered dabbler Nige blogged on the latest BBC red-button gizmo Maestrocam, a most unwise addition to our listening pleasure at The Proms, which concentrates a camera exclusively upon the antics of ... Read More...

Susan is taking a well-earned holiday this week - her first since The Dabbler's inception last year - so here's one from the Retroprogressive archives... Rumour has it that fashionably retro-progressive gents are investing in the priceless heritage of a bygone era. For those who want to go one better than ... Read More...

During the holiday season we're running a few repeats from the archives. Let's cheer ourselves up after a rotten week with one from September 2010... here's Patrick Kurp on some joyful music... What these performances have in common besides the pleasure I take in watching and listening to them is the ... Read More...

This week, Frank's Cupboard contains no text, but only this drawing, entitled The Birdhole Prison Riot. I think we'd all agree that, as a comprehensive, incisive and devastating critique of the social background to the events of this terrible week, it says far more less than words ever could. ... Read More...

Mr Slang responds to recent events in his own inimitable style... Loo! loo! Lulu! lulu! Loo! loo! Loot! loot! loot! Ow the loot! Bloomin' loot! That's the thing to make the boys git up an’ shoot! It’s the same with dogs an' men, If you'd make ’em come again Clap ’em forward with a Loo! loo! Lulu! ... Read More...

Rita Byrne Tull continues her series of Dabbler letters from America... When I flew across the Atlantic so many years ago I didn’t realize that I was also traveling on a high-speed escalator up the social classes. The notion that America is a classless society is, of course, a myth. Just ... Read More...

Want to get some free books? Fancy yourself as a reviewer? Alan Hollinghurst's long-awaited latest novel has been the publishing event of the summer. The hype appears justified. The Stranger's Child has been very favourably reviewed, The Guardian comparing the author to both Henry James and Evelyn Waugh, no less: Hollinghurst has a ... Read More...

I don't know how he did it, but a few weeks ago Evan Davis managed to smuggle a quite shocking heresy past the the BBC editors. In an episode of Made in Britain he argued, gently but persuasively, that the primary cause of the collapse of heavy British industry in late ... Read More...

I don't know what it was with me and Marianne Moore. For years I kept meaning to read her 'properly'. I knew her from such gems as Poetry (who could resist that opening line?) and a few others, but I'd never looked further. I was daunted by the Collected Poems, ... Read More...

This month's Dabbler Book Club selection was Walk the Lines by Mark Mason (buy it here). Below, Worm and then Gaw let you know their thoughts. But what do you think? Please do let us know in the comments. Worm: America is a willingness of the heart. I think London is a ... Read More...