Craft beer is all the rage, and British brewers are making undrinkable versions of American versions of British beers. Henry says it's time to go back to basics... I have a friend who has been a real ale bore since his teens. During student pub crawls in Oxford he used to ... Read More...
Month: July 2013
As well as bringing you the best culture writing in the blogosphere, The Dabbler also gives away a lot of free books. Here's what we thought of a recent choice... We always like it when a book club member who wins a book takes a moment to send in their own ... Read More...
Following his posts on our geography and sporting pastimes, David Cohen continues his (very) occasional series giving a US perspective of the British with a succinct summary of our history... The history of England is the history of colonialism, mostly with the English on the sharp side of the spear. Being ... Read More...
Mali may be economically impoverished, but as Toby Ash explains, it is musically wonderfully rich... I have quite an extensive collection of world music, but only recently did I notice that the majority of the African tracks were by Malian artists. Why Mali? To be honest I’m not completely sure. There ... Read More...
I'd never heard of this chap, which seems unfair considering that if it hadn't been for him none of us would be here reading this week's riveting edition of The Wikiworm... Stanislav Petrov (born c. 1939) is a retired lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. On September 26, 1983, ... Read More...
This week, Frank discovers Philip O'Connor, surrealist poet, monkey-fearer and author of a brilliant memoir... I have never watched a single episode of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, so I had no idea who Cockney matriarch Lou Beale was. I do, however, read obituaries with great interest, including those of people ... Read More...
In honour of the new Princeling, Mr Slang is talking kids... I love children, as Nancy Mitford put it so well, especially when they cry: for then someone takes them away. Mitford of course lived in Paris where they have a more robust attitude to those who have yet to acquire ... Read More...
As America debates race yet again, Rita recalls an incident in racial profiling that occured close to home... America is going through another one of its periodic Rorschach tests on race. The O. J. trial, Rodney King, now Trayvon Martin. Not to mention the long litany of names going back through ... Read More...
'If he hadn't existed, a satirical novelist would surely have invented him' - Nige on the popular philosopher C.E.M Joad... As well as being a 'botanophile' (as he terms it, to distinguish himself from a proper botanist), Jocelyn Brooke was also a keen maker of fireworks, an interest he developed while ... Read More...
An advantage the Annual Golfer has over the more frequent player is that for 364 days of the year he can completely empty his mind of any thoughts about golf. Not only is this excellent preparation for the annual round itself (it has been proven that practising golf doesn’t make ... Read More...