Some writers deploy an unanswerable style. Perry Anderson is one such: to read is to defer. Most of the time, anyway — but when the reader finds himself with the advantage, as I fear is the case here, the danger is that the whole edifice of aut[…]

Gronk board
Another story on the theme of strangers in travel pictures.
Once when I was a teenager, I was in the Navy cadets. We went on a 3-day trip staying on a minesweeper.
The minesweeper was dirty and gray coloured and smelt like a hospital. I[…]

The ‘enhanced’ CD of “Love Machine” is well worth your £2.99. You get a great sleeve, a version of the song which has actual bass on it unlike the MP3 doing the rounds, a Girls Aloud ‘game’ which won’t […]

One man saw it coming: The Society section of the Guardian is 25 years old, and has trawled its archives to celebrate. The second piece on this page, from 1982, (scroll down) is particularly interesting:
Some insights into the effects of modern commu[…]

Great British Crisps
Newish wheeze from Walkers – crisps purporting to replicate the taste of ‘great British dinners’, very suitable for pubs where drinkers are missing said great dinners. Though if my table ever holds a baked ham a[…]

Indie Chicken
(i’m such a bandwagon jumper (but also a fried chicken eater, so i couldn’t really turn down liz’s offer to join in))
#3 Favourite Chicken and Ribs, High Road, N15.
The problem with my journey back from the pub to my n[…]

I’m in an internet café, and its nearing one and this place is a buck an hour, so there are no head phones, but they have Kaaza?so I am listening to Tim McGraw, in an attempt to remember what else I want to put on a list of contempary chart co[…]

throwing a folding chair into the stands during an altercation between Oakland A’s fans and the Texas bullpen. The woman who got her nose broken by the chair is married to one of the main hecklers. Officially, of course, I disagree with this ac[…]

free culture now or sooncome famine!
i think i had an argt or two in a k-punk comments column abt this, back at the start of the summer: i’m a bit sad the “virtual commons” meme is being declaimed by others as i wanted to COPYRIGHT[…]

FT Top 100 Films
31: INFERNAL AFFAIRS
This is the third time this year I have talked about Infernal Affairs, the first being when it came out here, and the second being about its sequel. And looking at those two reviews I find myself also considering[…]