Tuesday 24 November 2009

'****ed' are the meek

Any idea of freedom must include the freedom to be poor.
- Rana Dasgupta

Herod rides again!

Cribs recalled for Christmas

Ethiopians vs the World (Service)

Ethiopian tour operators tear it up in Docklands in anger at the BBC.

One sympathises.

Lateran thinking

Yr 7 History exam

Source B: Peter Connolly, 1978

Hannibal tried to bring 34 elephants to Italy. All but one died crossing the Alps.

Source C: Mike Corbishley, 1989

Hannibal astonished his enemies by marching to Italy across the Alps. His huge army of 40,000 men also had 37 war-elephants with them. Hannibal reached Italy with 26,000 men and 12 elephants.
Q5 Sources B and C were both written by experts on Roman history. Do the differences mean that one of them must be wrong?

[A Of course not. They could both be wrong.]

Sunday 22 November 2009

Sunday 15 November 2009

InDefinition - 12

saxoporn, n. musical genre, originating in '80s Demi Moore movies, now found also in chain coffee-shops, DIY superstores and branches of LUSH.

Yes, mate!

Machan - coming soon to Europe!

Saturday 14 November 2009

InDefinition - 11

titter, v. traditional schoolboy reaction to mention of jugs, norks, boobies, and other adolescent synonyms for jubbly fun-bags.

Sunday 8 November 2009

A 'flat' Strauss

All-time classic sub-editors' headline-writing contest winner - with a concert review attached.

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Meanwhile, in the Times Education Supplement....

"The pressure is on the author to deliver as enriching an experience as video games do."
- Jeff Kinney

Novel UPDATE