I have been having a discussion with a friend about the use of the word mankind. She claims that it makes women “invisible” and should be abandoned in favour of humankind or humanity – or, if not abandoned, used only…
Read: Do you hate mankind?
Bidding for money wastes more time and energy than almost any other activity. I have no figures to back that up, but if you wanted to set up a project to unearth such statistics, you could probably bid for Lottery…
Julian Fellowes, writer of the ITV drama series Downton Abbey, has apparently become dispirited by the amount of criticism he has received. This ranges from anachronisms (yellow lines and TV aerials) and plagiarism (sugar mistaken for salt; flower show contretemps)…
Read: Why so down on Downton?
Traffic lights in Thailand count down from 90 seconds, so that you know exactly how long you have to wait. It strikes me that there is a lot to be said for this. Those of us not blessed with zen-like…
Read: How long must I wait?
I was pulled over by the police on the A17 a few days ago. “You haven’t done anything wrong,” they said – which shows how little they know me. “Just talk to that nice lady over there. If you want…
Read: The fatal snail
In these soft, grey, collapsing January days where dawn and dusk meet on main street at noon too weak, too low to draw their weapons and life seeps away like air from a pricked balloon, the fire fails: faint flames…
Read: Failing fire
Here are a few questions it might be worth considering in the light (if that is the right word) of the Pakistan cricket allegations. First, why do bookmakers accept such ridiculous bets? If they didn’t, the opportunities for the kind…
Read: How’s that? Ridiculous
The prospect of thousands of speed cameras being removed from their pedestals and recycled into something useful is one that will delight thousands of experienced motorists. In a typical piece of “unbiased” reporting, my local BBC station, Smug East, reacted…
The vicar in the new TV sitcom Rev is slightly less of a caricature than those we have become familiar with in the past. But he struggles with similar worldly issues, from abusive builders to colleagues with dubious driving forces….
Read: Schools to love
Letters pages in newspapers are strange and alien worlds, dominated by “facts that everybody knows” and answers to questions no-one has asked. In short, they are political places, and I feel uneasy in them. I occasionally cross their borders, but…
Read: Alien world of letters