Peter Robins 
A.D. Harvey in The Spectator – a little tribute to Eric Naiman’s ‘When Dickens met Dostoevsky’
Beginning with what he finds to be a rather implausible account of a meeting between Dickens and Dostoevsky, Eric Naiman’s recent essay for the Times Literary Supplement spins out an… Continue reading
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Historical directories: Street View for time-travellers - Spectator Blogs
Fancy a walk into London’s past? How about a stroll down Fleet Street in 1895? Or Oxford Street in 1899? It can be done. I can’t promise pictures, but I… Continue reading
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Also not found in Essex: the worst lion headline ever - Spectator blogs
In honour of the Essex lion, which seems now to have passed into legend, here is another urban myth. This one is subeditorial. It concerns what was said to be… Continue reading
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Does the New Statesman need more cartoons? Yes!
The current issue of the New Statesman leads off with a characteristically elegant and thorough feature by its deputy editor, Helen Lewis, on the fate of the political cartoon. In… Continue reading
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Graham Greene, Penguin and an old spelling mistake - Spectator blogs
Mistakes will sometimes happen even in the best-run places. Pictured with this post, by way of proof, is a 1947 Penguin paperback of Graham Greene’s The Lawless Roads, with the… Continue reading
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Max Hastings, John Keegan and Falklands - Spectator Blogs
In a notebook from Iceland in this week’s magazine, Max Hastings pays tribute to the late Sir John Keegan with, among other things, a notable anecdote: ‘One day at the… Continue reading
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Butlins and the return of the apostrophe - Spectator Blogs
When you begin in subediting – the odd little craft of preparing other people’s journalism for publication – certain things, or pairs of things, are drummed into you. St James’… Continue reading
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An anti-Labour leaflet in a pro-Labour font
The leaflet pictured above landed on my doorstep in Peckham last week. It’s the most interesting piece of election literature I’ve received this year — not because of its words,… Continue reading
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How dangerous is cycling?
Am I dicing with death every morning and evening? The Times would say so. I cycle to work, and, for the past two days, the Times has given over its… Continue reading
38 CommentsIn and out of copyright
New Year’s Eve, among its other distinctions, is the date when copyright terms tend to expire: with the beginning of each new year, at least in this country, the public… Continue reading
0 CommentsLocal interest
A pregnant 24-year-old from Carmarthen, north Wales, has pleaded guilty to attacking a parked police car with a rolling pin. She was reported to have explained her action as follows:… Continue reading
8 CommentsLocal interest
A tourist from Crystal Palace, south London, rescued an 11-month-old boy from the River Yare, in Norfolk, after his pushchair was swept into the water by a freak gust of… Continue reading
0 CommentsLocal interest
A former postman has stripped naked and superglued himself to a desk at the Job Centre in Bridlington, in protest at being refused disability benefit. (Yorkshire Post) Police stations in… Continue reading
1 CommentYour Nobel Prize for Literature link round-up
1) The official announcement of Tomas Transtömer’s victory 2) The one person in Britain we can be absolutely certain has read Transtömer: his translator. 3) An excellent summary of the preceding… Continue reading
1 CommentLocal interest
Exeter Cathedral is to mark the tenth anniversary of 11 September 2001 by having John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ played on its bells. (Exeter Express and Echo) A man has appeared before… Continue reading
1 CommentLocal interest
A couple in Merthyr transformed their front room into a shop selling cannabis and diazepam in order to pay off a loan on a mobility scooter. The woman was jailed for… Continue reading
0 CommentsLocal interest
A woman has been banned from every bookshop in the country after stealing £56 worth of magazines and Plasticine from a branch of WH Smith in Hartlepool. (Hartlepool Mail) The… Continue reading
2 CommentsLocal interest
A 75-year-old man has been banned from driving for three years after falling off his mobility scooter on the way home from a pub in Elgin. The ban does not… Continue reading
0 CommentsLink-blog: unintentional gags
Geoff Dyer begins his new New York Times column with an excellent stylistic joke. Aggregators are destined to conquer the world (me probably excepted). Mrs Murdoch oughtta be in chicklit.… Continue reading
0 CommentsLocal interest
Billingham: A judge has given a couple a £500 reward after they locked a professional burglar in their porch. The burglar, who had been attempting to break in at 4am,… Continue reading
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