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A Blogger’s Manifesto

By so many, to so few

by Eric Ringmar
Anthem Press, 148pp, ££8.99,

Christopher Howse

Wednesday, 9th January 2008

Christopher Howse reviews a selection of books on the internet

Eric Ringmar has only been blogging since last year, but has already been sacked from his job as a lecturer at the London School of Economics. What did he do wrong?

Nothing, by his account. First I must say parenthetically, for those who take no cognisance of such things, that blogs are no more than diaries that people post up on their own websites, hoping that some desperate wanderer or other in cyberspace might like to read them. For the first few weeks that Ringmar blogged, not many people noticed he was blogging at all. Then he made a suicidal speech at an open day for prospective students and their parents, in which he warned them that LSE ‘teachers will have their minds elsewhere than on undergraduate teaching’ and that in any case courses at the LSE were much the same as at lesser universities.

Like some technophiliac Lucky Jim, he proudly posted up the speech on his blog, where, as a cherry on the cake, he urged prospective students: ‘Whatever you do in life, don’t do a PhD! Or at least do one in the US where you get generous funding and proper PhD-level courses!’

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Steve Mitchelmore

January 12th, 2008 9:56pm

"for those who take no cognisance of such things ... blogs are no more than diaries" Christopher Howse and the person who wrote "By so many, to so few" should do some research. Blogs can be, and are, more than diaries, and many are read by many more each day than will ever witness the ignorance on display here. For example, blogs that review books and discuss literature in general: http://www.britlitblogs.com/

Erik Ringmar

January 14th, 2008 5:21am

Hi Chris, thanks for the review. My blog had 97,546 visitors in a year. I think that's pretty good. Btw, I don't advocate letting the world know about your ex girlfriends STD, but I don't think there is a way of stopping people who want to spread such information. The point is, we have to get used to living in a world were nothing much is kept secret for very long. Btw, Taiwan is great. I had roast duck for lunch and the weather is gorgeous. yours, Erik