...Long time ago. Rita recalls some favourite American Eccentrics... For Americans, an enduring and beloved stereotype is the English Eccentric. Lauded in literature and film, the Eccentric retains his place of privilege in the pantheon of British life adored by Americans. The cast includes the Royals, cheeky Cockney lads, women with ... Read More...
Society
Mr Slang searches for love, and finds only sex and drugs... I tried to write a musical once. No, you shouldn’t laugh, really. I had lunched well, couldn’t face the database and it served to counterfeit work. It was called – goodness, how did you guess – Slang! I forget the plot ... Read More...
Brit visits a new 'craft beer bar' slap-bang in the middle of Bristol's Studentsville, and wonders if, despite everything, the world has become a better, more civilised place... You may not credit it, but I have not always been the suave, immaculately-attired, dashingly handsome Brit familiar to millions of Dabbler readers. Once I was ... Read More...
This week Mr Slang tries to penetrate the world of 'edgy'... Edge. Perfectly respectable word. From Old English ęcg. Means edge, point or corner. There it is in Beowulf. The corner sense has vanished (still exists in German ecke) but the rest march on. On edge: tetchy, nervous. Thence edgy. Kipling ... Read More...
Planning on hosting or attending or a wine tasting? For goodness' sake don't even think about it without first reading Henry's golden rules... I have for some time been planning on starting a wine club so that I can drink wine I wouldn’t normally be able to afford. This club, will be in ... Read More...
Following Jon Hotten's review of Hood Rat - Gavin Knight's new survey of Britain's gang culture - Elberry takes on the underclass... One of the great pleasures of living in Germany is not living in England. In Germany disaffected youths scrawl pointless graffiti and dress in bright primary colours; in England, they take ... Read More...
Hood Rat - Gavin Knight's new book about Britain's gang culture - makes for uncomfortable reading. We have a double-bill for you, kicking off with Jon Hotten's review... In 1991, David Simon published a book called Homicide: Life On The Killing Streets, that followed for a year the work of three ... Read More...
Nige endures the company of a conspiracy theorist... Not long ago, for reasons that would be tedious to explain here, I found myself sharing an uncomfortable sofa with a sturdily built one-eyed man of County Galway origin. Having filled me in on the topography of that county of lakes and mountains, ... Read More...
After being summoned to national radio to adjudicate on the recent Twitter scrap over Ricky Gervais' use of the word 'mong', Jonathon Green considers the nature of 'offensive' language... Were this a more convenient world radio’s breakfast shows would be all-day affairs, as are the breakfasts offered in many caffs. But ... Read More...
Dabblers are strongly urged to visit the Wellcome Collection’s Miracles & Charms exhibition. The photographs above illustrate a few of the hundreds of Mexican miracle paintings on show (click on each photo to read a description of the events depicted, and click again to enlarge the image). Votive paintings encapsulate the ... Read More...