Decline of the English barrister

Looking back on the glory days of the English barrister, once followed like today's pop stars and footballers... John Osborne in his autobiography notes of his grandfather: Like so many people at that time [the inter-war period] he took as much interest in law-court proceedings as people do nowadays in football or ... Read More...

Post-Truth set in early

There's something of a panic underway about 'Post-Truth'. But it seems truth ended up as a casualty in some of the earliest - and most glorious - battles of modern democracy. Yesterday, the Observer reviewed no fewer than three books whose titles begin 'Post-Truth'. Nick Cohen's review blames the 'crisis' on ... Read More...

Join the Dabbler community on Facebook!

The Dabbler is thriving over on Facebook - come and join us... The main site here is currently undergoing some restoration work, but fear not, The Dabbler continues to thrive over on Facebook - with original material, typically arcane and Dabblerish links and oddities, and lots of chattering from our world-famous community ... Read More...

Seeing in the New Year, with Peter Hitchens

Today is the day we must recall these fine words from Peter Hitchens, written in 2010 but still so relevant: I am actively hostile to the ‘New Year’, a celebration of nothing in particular.   In that spirit, Happy New Year from all at The Dabbler! You can find that quote, and many more like ... Read More...

Boulevard du Temple, Paris, 1838

Today, a small Dabbler tribute to the endurance of Paris. Nige celebrates an extraordinary photograph... The Parisian street scene above dates from 1838, and was captured by Louis Daguerre, who was born this week (18 November) in 1787. Daguerre, who achieved worldwide fame with his Daguerrotype process, began his photographic researches with ... Read More...

Wanted: a different sort of book review

Mark Pack would like to hear more about books you thought you knew enough about - but probably didn't. A mere seven years after it came out, I’ve just finished reading (or more accurately, listening to) Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. In case you think I am a remarkably slow reader, I ... Read More...

James Barlow: the revival starts here

Having successfully revived the novelist David Karp, Steerforth champions another undeservedly forgotten author... It isn't easy to find a more obscure novelist than David Karp, but I think I've succeeded. A  visit to Camilla's Bookshop in Eastbourne yielded this novel, published in 1961: Yes, that is Larry Olivier on the front cover ... Read More...

The name’s Leithen…

Bond is back (you can hardly avoid him) but Gaw sets out to find a new hero for our time, or at least for his age. Pushing on through the blizzard of Bond film PR - a storm that blows up every few years - I find myself finding it less ... Read More...