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Continue reading →: Shrove Tuesday – who gives a toss?
The outrageous title gives it away, doesn’t it? I do give a toss, and those who shun tossing in favour of heating up some pale imitation of a pancake, clearly don’t give a toss. They may hold to the view that their way is better, but they’d be full of…
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Continue reading →: A change is as good as a rest to a dead donkey
Why change things? Without a valid motive, change becomes an irritating upheaval. Governments can get elected on the impact of the word ‘change’, creating the illusion that change is all that is required to make a better world. Chairman Mao liked change so much, he kept having mini revolutions just…
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Continue reading →: speed writing 103
On the subject of structure, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple. Introduction, main body and concluding bit makes life dead easy for the reader, if a bit predictable. But predictability might be the comfort blanket that both writer and reader need. Yer man Archer, the Mills and Boone formula,…
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Continue reading →: speed writing 102
Alright, sometimes just churning stuff out is not the way to go. Particularly, if you are not good at the word selection – you will end up spending a significantly longer time editing (rewriting) and that could kill off the creative juices. It is always useful to have a vague…
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Continue reading →: Speed writing 101
The real trick with speed writing is to gush and not worry about it. Imagine yourself suddenly Stephen Fried, and the words will tumble out of you in a style that is all your own. It might not be any good, but you’ll have tons to edit . Staring into…
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Continue reading →: Hair, shoes, accessories and other essentials
A person without hair is fashionable but is it stylish? Similarly, one could brave the high street without shoes, handbag, designer clothes or smartphone, but would it be frowned upon by people in the know? Personally I don’t feel properly attired without a shirt, and reach for my shotgun at…
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Continue reading →: Sport as warfare
Controlled agression, when channeled into sporting activities and refereed to an internationally accepted set of rules and principles, is a great thing to watch, or even participate in. It evokes strong allegiances and heightens emotions. A winning team, punch, try or throw will often be spectacular and captivate the spectators.…
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Continue reading →: Change or Status Quo?
How do you persuade a world community, if such a thing exists, to change the predominant triggers and levers crudely summarised as: fear, selfishness, instant gratification, greed and the belief in the superiority of certainty? Perhaps that’s taking on too many windmills to tilt at. But in an ideal world we…
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Continue reading →: Grub Street grabs authors by their recipes
I like the notion of treasure passed up for years, and then re-discovered by a publishing house that has the wisdom to appreciate the longevity of good writing. A case in point, Elisabeth Luard’s gem of a book, A Cook’s Year in a Welsh Farmhouse. Now I have to come clean…
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Continue reading →: I don’t mind if I do have a sense of collective consciousness
Other minds.. how do we know, or think we know, what is in the minds of others? Is there such a thing as ‘collective consciousness’? There is a vague recollection of my year’s studying Philosophy of Mind at the OU, that hints at communication being a lot more complicated than…
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