Blog

On Amy Winehouse: an apology

“Experience,” said Oscar Wilde, “Is the name we give to our mistakes.” Many, many years ago, I began to realise that I was often wrong. It was probably the fairly late arrival of something approaching maturity. Then my mother said …

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Manly bulges and so forth

If you want to see a bit of smart marketing and have a quiet gurgle of glee, go to http://blog.figleaves.com/2008/01/pants-for-paxo.html. Everyone in Britain will understand the jokes, but I‘m afraid I must give a boring explanation to those who are …

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News, with a malicious little twist

Whilst doing my shopping this afternoon I glanced at the front page of Le Monde – one of the two main serious French dailies The opening to the top front page news item was a neat example of that wit …

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Well, should we eff and blind or not?

“What we never expect always happens,” said Disraeli. Having been known for years as Drayton effing Bird because of my foul language, I am amused to be asked by Ian Denny whether people should use words like f**king or fucking …

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Australia – for those interested

Stu asked me to let him know what I’m doing in Oz … clearly a covert way to arrange a lynching. The answer is that I am definitely doing most of a day in Perth and also I think a …

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Australian wind-up – again

I’m off to Australia in a month for one of my regular little speaking trips. My partner there, Malcolm always takes perverse delight in winding me up. No opportunity is lost to point up the glory of Australia’s sporting achievements …

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Yes, I am a buffoon ….

This picture proves it. My partner took it of me wearing one of her more, stylish, on-trend hats in the office just now. It made a pleasant break from preparing for an interview in half an hour on what I …

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