Some media jottings
Some comments on a few good and rather more less good things collected recently from the print media [More >>>]
Category: Arts & Entertainment
Ministerial language
Add your contribution to the discussion of recent ministerial linguistic solecisms at http://www.invisionplus.net/forums/index.php?mforum=languagegroup&act=ST&f=5&t=194&st=0, or in Ephems.
Harvey’s Guide to English Language Usage and other new delights
Peter Harvey’s ‘Guide to English Language Usage’ usefully complements Burchfield’s Fowler: other new books warmly recommended, Lorna Lloyd’s study of the Commonwealth High Commissioner, and Frank Kennedy’s memoir ‘Dust Suspended’. All four have something in common [More >>>]
Guardian breaks record for howlers in one editorial
Numerous linguistic and substantive howlers enliven a single Guardiuan editorial. Invitation to visit a new language discussion forum [More >>>]
Yet more howlers
Some more linguistic or conceptual howlers, mostly from or quoted by the Guardian [More >>>]
The Day War Broke Out
My meme on what I was doing the day the Iraq war began: watching the destruction of Baghdad live on TV with horror and disgust, but distracted by simultaneously selling our house, by an imminent visit to New York and by a computer bug [More >>>]
A new selection of howlers
Some more vicious assaults on the English language, committed in the print media and by Mr Blair … [More >>>]
More on Jade Goody: who’s the bully now?
Jade’s initial resilience in the face of disaster seems to have been crushed out of her by the weight of the righteous condemnation dumped on her from all quarters, including the tabloids that once profited from flaunting her celebrity. Impossible not to feel compassion [More >>>]
Big Brother: Jade and Baz and all that jazz
Jade, ejected on an 82% public vote for her bullying and racism, is nevertheless more victim than villain. More interesting is Pater Bazalgette, chairman of the company responsible for Big Brother, and a sophisticated exponent of the programme’s interesting if unattractive role in society [More >>>]
Damning a dancer for her politics
The campaign to pressurise the English National Ballet into sacking one of its principal dancers because she belongs to the BNP is an assault on the principle of freedom of speech and opinion and reflects a noxious streak of self-righteous authoritarianism in the anti-racism industry [More >>>]