Builders have come, so Mrs Brit and the girls fled the house. The builders are of course very mannish men. Gnarly men. Practical men, who work with their hands and communicate in grunts and obscenities and take at least two sugars in their tea. Like all good building crews this ... Read More...
Journalism
Do you know absolutely nothing about tax? Don't worry, most 'experts' are the same, says Dabbler editor Brit... Is The Budget over yet? Specifically, the entirely misleading press coverage of George Osborne's announcements last Wednesday? Now I know a bit about tax, and by that I mean 'a bit' and no ... Read More...
As the Leveson Inquiry trundles interminably on, guest poster Michael Noble (aka @Contact_Light) revisits Evelyn Waugh's classic novel about hack behaviour... One of the favoured resorts of tabloidese is the word ‘tragic’, easily inserted into a pithy headline, or appended as an adjective. It would be all too tempting also to apply ... Read More...
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...
Those who have been following the remarkable case of the plagiarising, Wikipedia-manipulating Independent journalist Johann Hari will know that he has handed back his Orwell award (the plaque that is, not necessarily the cheque) and gone back to journalism school to learn how to write proper. His first assignment of the term was, naturally, ... Read More...
There's been a slew of 'what does this say about Britain?' articles in the wake of the News of the World scandal (the answer can be summarised as 'nothing good', by the way). This is from The New York Times and is by an expat journo coming home. He concludes: ...a man ... Read More...
Definition of Pendants Coroner: when someone corrects someone else’s grammar, punctuation, spelling or factual knowledge, and in the process makes some risible error or errors. It derives from a thread on Harry’s Place when a commenter came to correct some points of grammar, punctuation, etc. under the moniker (unintentional) of ... Read More...
In our occasional feature we invite guests to select the six cultural links that might sustain them if, by some mischance, they were forced to spend eternity in a succession of airport departure lounges with only an iPad or similar device for company. Today's voyager is Owen Polley, who blogs as ... Read More...
Ben Atherton is a Brisbane-based journalist, dad, misty-eyed expat and sometime blogger on books and bookmen at Biblioparrot. We welcome him to our small (and virtual) piece of the old country here at The Dabbler. Back in the good old days, when I was trying to get my first job on newspapers, ... Read More...
By now you will be feeling a vague unease in the back of your brainbox about the Christmas gifts you haven’t yet bought for family, friends and foes. If you fail to address this problem, that unease will turn into disquiet, then a Weltschmerz, then an angst and finally a ... Read More...
