The Peckham Peace Wall began life as a window: a long pane of shop glass in the front of Rye Lane’s newly refurbished branch of Poundland. During the riots last summer, the glass went, along with some of Poundland’s stock. The next morning, after the damage had been boarded up, a local theatre group covered
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 short, she fears for its future. The most poignant element, however, is a sidebar headed ‘Cartoons in the New Statesman‘. After reviewing the magazine’s magnificent
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 author’s name misspelt on the spine. It’s still common to talk of ‘typographical errors’, or typos, but back in 1947 there really was such a
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 beginning of 1986, he rang to gossip. I told him an implausible announcement was due that night: I was becoming editor of the Daily Telegraph.
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’ Park is where Newcastle United play; St James’s Park is where the band of the Grenadier Guards play. Lloyds is the bank; Lloyd’s is the
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, but because of its graphic design. If you read it closely, it appears to be an official communication from the Tories. The legally mandated imprint
Home cinema equipment isn’t only for the home; in fact, home may not be the best place for it. If you really want to see the effect of a good digital projector and a set of surround-sound speakers, put them in the back room of a pub. An increasing number of publicans are doing so.
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 front page to a campaign on cycling safety. The campaign is in most respects commendable — I like the specific proposals — but it emphasises
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 domain gets a little larger. In 2012, this has had a couple of effects in the world of digital bookchat. One was a flurry of
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: “It was something I needed to do and I did it.” (South Wales Evening Post) About fifty mourners, including one who flew in from Portugal,
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 wind. (Eastern Daily Press) Four men have admitted possession and use of criminal property after finding £750,000 buried beneath a pigsty in Worcestershire. (Worcester News)
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 Leicestershire have been ordered to take down their flagpoles as a cost-saving measure. They will share a single mobile flagpole instead. (Leicester Mercury) A curry
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 hoaxes and Dylanology. 4) John Dugdale on the Nobel committee’s chequered history in literary matters. 5) No announcement yet on the Nobel laureate in Ted
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 magistrates in Lincoln charged with shoplifting dresses worth a total of about £1,200 from Peacocks and Marks & Spencer. He attended court in knee-length boots,
Bold Tendencies is a seasonal sculpture exhibition, events venue and bar — in overall effect, a sort of hipster adventure playground — concealed in the disused upper levels of the multistorey car park opposite Peckham Rye railway station. Bold Tendencies is a seasonal sculpture exhibition, events venue and bar — in overall effect, a sort
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 10 months; the man, whose scooter it was, for 15. (South Wales Echo) An allotment-holder in Stourbridge has grown a 25lb cabbage. The secret, he
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 developers of a mosque on the site of a former pub in Sneinton, Nottingham, are seeking fresh planning permission after it was found to be
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 cover use of the mobility scooter, which can be driven without a licence. (Press and Journal, Aberdeen) A boy of nine has returned home from
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. Two pieces of interesting news from the Millions: you’ll feel less guilt about reading a book in the bath if it’s already dirty; and Ayn
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, was given seven years in jail. Portland: A 53-year-old woman has abseiled 60ft, for charity, down a cliff from which she fell at the age