Decoding the Russian alphabet
A recent trip to St Petersburg in Russia was a delight. I was there at the end of June, during the period of the White Nights, when the sun doesn’t set. It’s a magical time to visit this gorgeous city...
View ArticleThe perils of pronouncing Irish names
I love Irish names with their soft Gaelic sounds. I’m half Irish so when my first daughter was born I wanted to reflect her heritage by giving her an Irish name. We chose Siobhán – a name that...
View ArticleHumanist celebrants celebrate humanity
At the beginning of 2016 I was accepted onto a British Humanist Association (BHA) training programme to become a humanist wedding celebrant. It’s been a fascinating experience and I’m looking forward...
View ArticleCracking wise – the art of the hard-boiled sentence
Writing hard-boiled crime fiction isn’t as easy as it may seem. Although it appears to have a consistent structure, and a heavy emphasis on style, putting the elements together to create truly...
View ArticleChipping in on ‘chipping in’…
Twice in one week recently I received requests asking me ‘to chip in’, rather than make a contribution, or to donate money. It made me wonder if it was the start of a trend, with organisations...
View ArticleLanguage loss in dementia: you have to laugh
I’m glad we had the times together just to laugh and sing a song, seems like we just got started and then before you know it, the times we had together were gone. Dr Seuss My mother has a … Continue...
View ArticleSwearing – a sign of wit and intelligence?
It might seem counterintuitive but scientists have found that swearing fluency is actually a sign of more intelligence and greater vocabulary rather than less. As Richard Stevens, writing in The...
View ArticleLess is more in business writing
We live in world supersaturated with words. Written words, spoken words; in print and online – there’s an endless stream of them assaulting our senses. Getting your message or your company story heard...
View ArticleTypography of the people, by the people, for the people
Every now and then someone takes something mundane and spins it into gold, just like Rumplestinkskin. Today, among the angry, anxious chatter about Brexit and Trump on my Twitter feed, there came a...
View ArticleOn puns, placards and political protest
On Saturday 23 March 2019 around 1 million people (including me) took to the streets of London to show our disgust at the Brexit shambles and to demand a #PeoplesVote. I’ve no idea if it will make any...
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