Inappropriate language

Mr Slang explains why finds one particular word to be the most offensive in the English language... Occasionally, when I toss some new offering onto the great heap of the unsold that is publishing (for if every birth is a death postponed, so are mint and shiny first editions merely the ... Read More...

Invictus Redivivus

Nige examines a 19th Century poem that has experienced a sudden revival in popularity, having been cited as an inspiration by both Nelson Mandela and, um, Gordon Brown... My father's taste in poetry was that of an upright Edwardian. He had a personal anthology of poems of moral uplift and patriotic ... Read More...

Hatred in Lord of the Rings

Elberry considers what JRR Tolkien's masterpiece can teach us about an all-too human emotion. Tolkien’s vision of evil is subtle and extensive. He is not content with black riders and Balrogs and orcs, these dramatic but thoroughly inhuman enemies; there is also the all-too familiar and all-too human emotion of hatred, ... Read More...

Film Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brit praises Thomas Alfredson's new adaptation of the Le Carre classic... A Saturday night visit to the ring-road multiplex is not, in the normal course of things, an activity of particular cultural sophistication. Grown-ups in JD sportsgear (i.e.oversized romper suits) toddle open-mouthed from the shouty, flashy blast of the foyer into ... Read More...