‘Grammar is a piano I play by ear.’ – Joan Didion Every now and then I seem to get into a discussion – OK, an argument – with one of the many self-appointed members of the language police. ‘You must … Continue reading
Back in pre-email days, Dean Acheson observed that ‘most memos are written not to inform the reader but to protect the writer’. I was reminded of this last month when I received a missive from a service supplier. It was … Continue reading
Back in the days when all good ‘newspapermen’ carried a stenographers’ pad, several sharp pencils, and an Olivetti Lettera 32 portable typewriter, one of my cousins spent her days asking who, what, where, when, and why, and writing up the … Continue reading