Category Archives: Journalism

Fragment of a Transylvanian Journey

Posted on June 28, 2007 by acb

In 1993 (I think) I found myself travelling in Transylvania with a fundamentalist missionary named Gary Cox — a good man, though not my type at all — and Sandy Millar of HTB, who had two strapping young acolytes: Giles … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Dan Dennett review

Posted on June 25, 2007 by acb

I found this review of Breaking the Spell from two years ago while looking for something else. It was in the Guardian at the time, but it still makes sense, at least to me. It is hard being an atheist … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | Comments Off on Dan Dennett review

Dershowitz, Trivers, and me

Posted on June 7, 2007 by acb

Alan Dershowitz, a professor of Law at Harvard, is an enthusiast for torture and an apologist for a Greater Israel. Bob Trivers is one of the most distinguished theoretical biologists alive. Dershowitz has been campaigning — alongside racist slime like … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism, War | 3 Comments

Humans mating in thelondonpaper

Posted on June 7, 2007 by acb

Curious edit in CiF today, where I had a piece attacking Andy Coulson and tabloid journalism generally. I had written that Murdoch’s London freesheet thelondonpaper had urged viewers to go to its website and watch a video of two people … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 2 Comments

just time for this

Posted on June 6, 2007 by acb

I know that we old Indie types tend to think that nothing could be worse than the paper we left. We’re wrong. It could be owned by Richard Desmond. Below is the front page of last Sunday’s, snapped in Waitrose. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 1 Comment

Interview technique

Posted on June 4, 2007 by acb

There is something uniquely humiliating about interview transcripts. I would like to believe that it is the lack of punctuation — even skilled audio typists are unable to punctuate at all, so far as I can see. But maybe it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Not to insult the female genitalia

Posted on June 4, 2007 by acb

But, really, is there a better epithet for Martin Peretz than “cunt”? This kind of thing looks just diseased from Europe, but it is worth remembering that it is treated as a perfectly respectable contribution to left-wing centrist journalism in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 6 Comments

A cultural injunction

Posted on May 30, 2007 by acb

The Lives of Others is not only a very good film, though I think it would have been better had it ended with the car accident, but it has inspired a remarkable piece of film criticism from Timothy Garton Ash. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Journalism | Comments Off on A cultural injunction

You can’t sacrifice a taxi driver

Posted on May 22, 2007 by acb

This is what I have decided that the programme I have been working on this week should be called. It is about brain plasticity; in particular the mysterious phenomenon of adult human neurogenesis. For obvious reasons, this is easier to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 8 Comments

Should Damian Thompson be excommunicated?

Posted on May 10, 2007 by acb

I only ask, because yesterday he had a thoroughly humane and sensible post up on his blog arguing that the Irish girl who wants to come here and abort her anencephalic baby should do so. The Catholic Church will oppose … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | 3 Comments