On reading your own reviews

Writer Jon Hotten has been on both sides of the review fence. Here he reveals the extraordinary disconnect between being a reviewer and a reviewee... My friend and estimable rock music writer (amongst other things) Paul Elliott has been asking everyone he interviews if they can remember their worst review. They ... Read More...

Walking in Leicestershire

Nige explores a county where "history is written on the face of the land"... Tell someone you're going walking in Leicestershire and chances are you'll be greeted by a blank bewildered look, or the bald question 'Why?' In fact, Leicestershire has some of the best walking country in England - wide open ... Read More...

Osbert Lancaster’s Crystal Ball

  We take a look at the predictions of cartoonist Osbert Lancaster (1908-1986), who thought that any attempt to rebuild Shakepeare's Globe Theatre would be laughed out of town... With his tweedy outfits and otter-like head, cartoonist Osbert Lancaster was well known to households of the middle twentieth century. Magnificently named, Osbert rose to ... Read More...

Variation On A Theme Of Steve Bruce

Having vowed on Tuesday to destroy everything he has written to date and start all over again with Steve Bruce as his literary mentor, Frank begins in earnest with an exciting short story... His office was comfortable. There was a computer on the desk. It was a desktop PC running the ... Read More...

WOTY’s it all about?

Mr Slang looks at the nominations for 'Word of the Year' and wonders why they bother... What are words worth? Tom  Tom Club ‘Wordyrappinghood’  (1981) Let us assume, why not, that it’s me. Let us assume, nothing new here, that I’m wrong. Let us assume, hardly a first in self-denial, that everyone else ... Read More...

Private Eye at 60

Recently Dabbler editor Brit made the controversial claim that the ‘jokes’ section of Private Eye – written for five decades by a small exclusive gang hidden away in the editor’s office – is not funny. To investigate, Noseybonk, who is able to travel back and forth in time nae bother, zips forward ... Read More...

The brain is weirder than the sky…

We've been marking the launch of occasional Dabbler Bryan Appleyard's new book The Brain is Wider than the Sky with a mini-Appleyardfest (read Brit's review here and an exclusive Q&A with the author here). To conclude it, here's Elberry on the human imagination... Signed copy competition winners - congratulations to Dabbler ... Read More...

Edwin Muir and Childhood, near and far

Gaw finds Edwin Muir's memories of childhood particularly resonant... I'm reading Edwin Muir's autobiography, recommended here by masterly commenter Jonathan Law. As JL remarks, the account of his childhood is terrific. He seems remarkably able to inhabit a child's perspective - I've only witnessed it being done as well in Joyce's Portrait of the ... Read More...