Inside Story: a novel / How to Write By Martin Amis Jonathan Cape £20 . It is traditionally ‘not done’ to review books in terms of what they’re not. And yet: this book is not a novel. It says it is on the front cover; but it isn’t. And Martin Amis makes it clear it’s […]
Filed in Journalism, review
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Also tagged 9/11, Amazon, autobiography, Brexit, Christopher Hitchens, Clive James, criticism, death, Elizabeth Jane Howard, food, Germany, James Fenton, Jonathan Cape, Kingsley Amis, Martin Amis, Mystic Meg, Nabokov, nonvels, Philip Larkin, pilates, publishing, Robert Conquest, rugby, Salman Rushdie, Saul Bellow, sex, Solzhenitsyn, terrorism, the Gulag, the Holocaust, The New Yorker, The Oldie
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Notes on Colombo’s books and bookmen in the time of Covid-19. — For The Critic
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged alcohol, Aleksandar Hemon, Amazon, Ashok Ferrey, B&Q, Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, books, bookshops, Buddhism, Ceylon, Ceylon Bible Society, charity, China, Chuck Palahniuk, clothing, Colombo, Colombo Fashion Week, Colombo International Book Fair, construction, Covid-19, Dan Brown, David Duchovny, democracy, Denis Johnson, Dr Sudath Samaraweera, Dutch Burgher Union, education, Emma Donoghue, Emmanuel Carrere, England, Eventbrite, Facebook, Galle Literary Festival, Harrods, health, hygiene, Iran, James Hadley Chase, Jilly Cooper, Kumar Sangakkara, letters, LIDL, Lt General Shavendra Silva, Malaysia, Michael Chabon, Milo, money, music, Nicholas Mosley, Nixon, Northern Ireland, novels, One Galle Face, Ottawan, Panos Karnezis, rain, religion, Robert Knox, satire, schools, Shangri-La, Shehan Karunatilaka, shopping, Sinhala, snacks, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Exhibition & Conference Centre, Tamil, TASCHEN, taxes, TGI Fridays, The Big Bad Wolf, The Critic, the internet, the Sistine Chapel, Tisara Prakasakayo, TS Eliot, tsunami, VIPs, Waterstone's, weddings, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
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Trailer for the ‘new’ and ‘improved’, all-singing-no-dancing, NEWS AT A GLANCE – coming soon to a Queen Mob’s Tea House near you! — For Queen Mob’s Tea House
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged air travel, America, anthems, Austria, children, death, Dutch, Hinduism, Johannesburg, marriage, Nelson Evening Mail, New Zealand, Queen Mob's Tea House, satire, singing, sleep, translation
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. High top boots for dogs are now being sold in the shops of New York. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 23 1907 . The first pedestrian has been killed by a self-driving car. Starbucks employees do not capitalise their As. The sound of the bagpipe fattens the sheep and lambs of all Arabia. […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged (il)literacy, academia, Adam Smyth, age, America, Arabia, babies, bagpipes, Canada, cars, Chile, composition, criticism, death, dermatology, dogs, Easter Island, education, entertainment, fauna, geography, housewares, Justin Trudeau, Mahler, Moldiv, Mount Everest, music, Nelson Evening Mail, New York, Poetry, politics, shopping, Starbucks, Truth, walking
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. The average salary of professors at Dublin University is £530. — The Nelson Evening Mail, March 14 1907 . Wherever there is a fire that ravages everything in its path, the protea is the first thing to regenerate. Clive James once voluntarily interviewed the Spice Girls. Manchester has become ‘Womanchester’. Cineworld has landed in […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged academia, America, army, bowls, Cineworld, Clive James, domestic affairs, drink, Dublin, education, Elon Musk, employment, engineering, film, finance, flora, Journalism, Kanye West, law, Manchester, music, Nelson Evening Mail, nomenclature, Oscar Wilde, pastry, retirement, South Africa, space travel, technology, the Congo, the Spice Girls, Um Bongo, university, Weston-super-Mare, women, work
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Thursday, February 1, 2018
If there’s one thing I just can’t abide, it’s ranters. Not the C17th religious nonconformists. Folk who can’t shut up about things. You know the type. The workplace philosophers; the shouters at the TV; people in whose eyes you see the glint of socialist dictatorship. They come in every walk of life. Stupid boxers (*tautology […]
Filed in correspondence, Journalism
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Also tagged Adolf Hitler, Alex Ferguson, Bangalore, Basil Fawlty, boxers, British Rail, Charlie Sheen, comedians, customer services, Denmark, dictatorship, fathers, Geoffrey Boycott, Hamlet, humour, Jeremy Clarkson, John McEnroe, Mel Gibson, memoirs, men, Michael Richards, Naomi Campbell, philosophy, phones, pubs, ranting, religion, Samuel Johnson, socialism, The Daily Mail, the Labour Party, The Oldie, TV, Will Self
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. One-fiftieth of the inhabitants of Spain are nobles. — The Nelson Evening Mail, October 4 1906 . The beheading of the sperm whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale surgeons very much pride themselves. Great lips take hydration and balls. Pease pudding has been flagged up by airport security on more than one […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged airports, anatomy, asbestos, Bognor Regis, cetology, China, Christmas, class, cricket, Diane Abbott, dogs, Dr Gregory House, gorillas, Nelson Evening Mail, Nigel Farage, pease pudding, politics, Richard II, sea-faring, security, sex, Spain, Spanish, surgery, Swedish, Theresa May, Torbay, translation, TV, Twitter, water
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. All over China temples have been turned into schools with surprising alacrity. — The Nelson Evening Mail, July 26 1906 . The owl of Minerva flies only at dusk. Though rare, there have been exactly 201 documented cases of spontaneous combustion. J Sainbury plc is cutting 2000 Human Resources employees. The collective noun for brown […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged actors, anatomy, birds, China, Crete, criticism, death, education, Everton, fire, fish, French, George W Bush, Journalism, men, music, Nelson Evening Mail, nouns, October, Paul Celan, poets, religion, Renault, Sainsbury's, sea-faring, translation, vans, work, writing
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. Omnibuses in Holland are fitted with letter-boxes. — The Nelson Evening Mail, July 13 1908 . A ‘havelock’ is the flap of cloth that hangs down from a soldier’s kepi, to protect the neck. Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States drew bigger crowds to Washington DC than any previous inauguration. The […]
Filed in Journalism, NEWS AT A GLANCE
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Also tagged anatomy, army, cards, Duff Cooper, education, Giles Coren, hats, health, Holland, James Joyce, Jeffrey Bernard, Jim Norton, music, novels, otters, post, Pratt's, Rhodes, Spectator, The Times, Tunbridge Wells, Washington, WW2
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