J.M. Coetzee has lost the plot
The Schooldays of Jesus is not, as it happens, about the schooldays of Jesus. It is the Man Booker-nominated sequel…
Stig Abell’s diary: My days in court with the Sun
Soon after I joined the Sun as managing editor (among other things, I used to review novels for The Spectator),…
The Scent of Death, by Andrew Taylor – review
Raymond Chandler once said that ‘the detective story, even in its most conventional form, is difficult to write well. Good…
The growing pains of spirited youth
It is initially unsettling to read a new novel by an acclaimed author that is not really new at all,…
Nothing connects
This is a slight book containing short stories about minor characters. And it is about to receive some fairly faint…
Umbrella, by Will Self
James Joyce once described Ulysses — in dog Italian — as a ‘maledettisimo romanzaccione’, or monstrously big novel. It has…
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Cartoons
‘Don’t just sit there, Google something!’
‘I used to be fat and sad. Then I exercised.
Then I dieted. Then I became superfit.
Superfit and supersad.’
‘Turn left on to the heath. Then you have reached your destination.’
‘He’s playing with his HS2 train set.’
‘We’ve had the room
painted “privilege white”.’
‘The world is urging restraint, sir.’
‘The booster seat is for John Bercow.’
‘Turn me into a princess?
Haven’t I suffered enough?’
Left: Man stands aside
for woman Right: Man doesn’t stand
aside for woman
‘My wife wants to send me to Coventry.’