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First-Degree Burns
‘I am pleased to announce that I have graduated from High Street University with a first-class honours degree in [insert any lamentable toss here]…… Such announcements are popping up all over the shop on social media. LinkedIn degree-result fanfaronade appears to be today’s must-have accessory for the me-me-me gang. ‘I’m so grateful to my lecturers…
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Building a Fence
I’m offended. Well, I’m not, but it seems that wherever you look, somebody is. Many whip out the offence card in an attempt to magic up come sort of legitimate censorship. Nobody has a right not to be offended and if they genuinely are, it doesn’t mean that they are either right or have the…
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I Spy…
Picture the scene of abject despondency in the Kremlin. The UK Government is strongly considering regulation for the espionage industry, with spies compelled to sign a register. There’s Mr Putin jumping on that crisis telekit with Mr Xi not knowing which card to lay down next. Talk about pulling the rug out from under the…
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Meddle Ceremony
I am a fan of etymology and the origins of words, but I have always known that they might sometimes be susceptible to the incorporation of urban legends. This false etymology, as linguists term it, sometimes takes the form of outwardly reasonable explanations that are essentially flawed or backronyms (acronyms that are contrived to provide…
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No-BAME Culture
‘Diversity and inclusion have never been more important’. They’re at it again, all those boorish recruitment consultants, so-called brand specialists, and advertising gurus churning out whatever toss they think might snag them a hatful of clicks. And it’s always been important. Not more so now. It’s the concept of diversity that has never been more…
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Reading the Room
Freud once said that an angry child would destroy the world if it could. How very apt for the prevailing climate. How many times have you seen somebody slapped down with the riposte that they have ‘not read the room?’ It’s favoured wordspew of the sage social commentator and wannabe urban Guevara. The problem with…
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24/7
On 23 June, the Government offered up a perspective on masks: ‘the evidence of the benefit of using a face covering to protect others is weak and the effect is likely to be small’. As we now know, the world can change very quickly. The new norm dictates that the same goes for science. Not…
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New Flack City
It looks like a fraught debate about cancel culture is raging. Now I’m sufficiently sage to appreciate the apocryphal source of the term, having watched New Jack City back in the day. I say back in the day; it was actually around 2008, when I had a penchant for the 4 ex-rental DVDs for £10…
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Pop Go the Weasels
Some time ago, I raised the possibility that the Black Lives Matter strapline had been appropriated by every fake woke bandwagon-bandit under the sun. It was not a popular suggestion. Neither was the view that many had taken up their woke standpoint after a lifetime of pretending that racism didn’t exist. They were knee-deep in…
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You Don’t Say!
The sleepy town of Nailsea in North Somerset has twice made the news in the last week or so. Firstly, some wag affixed sticky eyes onto a statue of former Wurzels frontman Adge Cutler. Vandal-eyes-ed, as surprisingly nobody said. And now, an anonymous urbane guerrilla has printed out five A4 pages reading ‘It’s ok to…
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Fighting the Good Fight…
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