In 28 Days Later, Cilian Murphy’s character wakes up 28 days after a localised zombie apocalypse has occurred. He is our viewpoint stranger in a strange land, wandering through a deserted London trying to survive. Perhaps it is telling (though […]

Cheese stats: Soft-ish raw cows milk cheese from the alpine patches of Franch
Bought from: Mons
This rind’s ochre, orange and white, bumpy and mottled, with specks of a bright yellow mould. Inside the cheese is a pale cream colour – crumb[…]

“The Invention Of Lying” is as dull as its title. Sorry to say this, particularly as Ricky probably still has a flat around here and he takes criticism badly, but “The Invention Of Lying” stunk. And it stunk because it didn&#8[…]

(This is the second part of a piece on managing long blog projects. The first part is here.)
Popular’s main strength – and I’m very proud of this indeed – are its regular 50-post comment threads that are lucid, civil, wide-ranging, full of he[…]

Stawley
Cheese stats: Small round of goats cheese, bought from Neals Yard Dairy[1]
The stawley has a creamy yellow and white white wrinkled rind. A sticky, translucent layer lies just below the rind, and the cheese becomes a denser, opaque white towa[…]

In September 2003 I started a blogging project: six years later, I’m halfway through it. It seems like a good time to put down in writing what – if anything – I’ve learned through doing Popular: what I got right and what I got wrong.
Not the […]

When the Sugababes shed Keisha a few weeks ago, I was a bit worried for the catty one. Not cos she can’t look after herself, and not because she’ll be poor. But rather because the old idea that you have a successful career in a boy / girl[…]

Obviously when bassline house poked its way into the 2007 charts what I hoped – and I wasn’t alone – is that this heralded UK Garage 2.0, one of those convergences of dance music trends, pop, and sales that lights up the Top 40 for […]

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is a terrific movie. Perhaps a touch smug with how clever it is in places, but its a solid narrative which confounds clichés at most turns whilst stuffing the slyest of sidegags and slapstick moments to keep every a[…]

One assumes that with the London Evening Standard going free next week, the days of its lighter (liter) sibling the London Lite are numbered. Which means the days of the toughest puzzle in London are numbered. That’s right, we’ll be losin[…]