plain english – Page 3 – don't confuse the narrator

news and clichés

Reading the ‘newspaper’ on Tuesday – the 20p Independent i – I got the impression that the concept of news must have changed considerably since I used to read the UK press on a regular basis. There was no text other than ‘headlines’ on the front page, and inside it seemed all to be gossip, sport or opinion. Even what I think was intended as an editorial struck me as no more weighty than a teenager’s blog entry.

Last night, I watched the BBC news on television instead. Sadly it was no better.
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workshop discussion

I’ve been thinking about workshops recently.

No, not the sort that illustrates this post, but writing workshops for the commentary, critique and creation of original texts.
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attached to the past

While looking for a picture of a quill pen the other day, I came across several pictures I took to accompany an article on stationery written many years ago.This one particularly appealed, and though I’m not sure I’ve got anything very witty or insightful to write on the subject, I thought I’d include it here.

I suppose I could mention the confusion between the words ‘stationery’ and ‘stationary’.
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of maths and chocolates

This labelling on a box of ‘chocolates and toffees’ makes me want to reach for a pen and paper and start drawing Venn diagrams:

more damned lies

The BBC website reports that the Office for National Statistics has released figures describing the average man and woman in Britain today.

Statistics reveal Britain's 'Mr and Mrs Average'

The bit that really bothers me is this:

The average British man is 38, will live another 41 years and is educated at least to A-levels.
The figures […] show the average British woman is two years older and will live to 72.

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