Category Archives: Blather

The greatest Telegraph obituary of this millennium: Nerina returned to her mother, by now living in a house near Horsham with her sixth husband, Noel Sparrow. Just before her mother’s death in 1958, Nerina decided to take up ballroom dancing … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Somone — Tony Howard, I think — wrote the other day that he had never understood Talleyrand’s saying that something was “worse than a crime: it was a mistake.” I think the difference is this. A crime is something for … Continue reading → Continue reading →

“I‘m sure there are plenty of great young songwriters working out there now and yes, I really hate them”. From a rather wonderful talk by Loudon Wainwright. Jim White went to interview him once for the Independent, in Leeds, or … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Boring abusive comments will be disemvowelled. Persistent offenders may be banned. Continue reading →

This, from NTK, is one of the most awe-inspiring pieces of nerdery ever. Continue reading →

On the Internet, of course, it reads that 99.99% of everything is crap. I’ve just found, via Pharyngula, part of the 0.01% — the invasive species weblog. Continue reading →

Some little slimeball has been spattering the site with these. I thought I might try something different to instant nuking, the usual response. Since comment spams are designed to give Googlejuice to the products advertised, I have simply edited them … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Various silly heretics claim to be unable to see the point of the Dead. I suggest a visit to the Ratdog site, where Bob Weir’s spinoff band are releasing live download CDs for a very reasonable $12.50 a concert, which … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Farewell for a fortnight or so. I’m going to Austria; and leave you with the thought that the first recorded use of “Dudess” in in the OED comes from 1885; but it is predated by the term “dudine”. And people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Went to the private view last night of Jonny Boatfield’s show in a converted church in Cambridge. The subjects, inmates of an old peoples’ home, are depressing; but the pictures are very fine indeed, and well worth seeing. Had he … Continue reading → Continue reading →