The Derb: I have given up reading emails about [Intelligent Design]. Same applies, btw, to emails about flying saucers, Martian canals, the hollow earth, Atlantis, telepathy, dianetics, unicorns, phrenology, astrology, orgonomy, alien abductions, Bridey Murphy, the location of Noah’s ark, the fate of the Marie Celeste’s crew, and whether or not the bishops of the… Continue reading

Time weighs in with it’s picks for the 100 best movies of all time….

Great news for writers who have been left high and dry by the retreat of once great short story markets like The Atlantic.

Anthony Lane in his merciless appraisal of the new Star Wars movie: The young Obi-Wan Kenobi is not, I hasten to add, the most nauseating figure onscreen; nor is R2-D2 or even C-3PO, although I still fail to understand why I should have been expected to waste twenty-five years of my life following the progress… Continue reading

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Britons described them as “chauvinists, stubborn, nannied and humourless”. However, the French may be more shocked by the views of other nations. For the Germans, the French are “pretentious, offhand and frivolous”. The Dutch describe them as “agitated, talkative and shallow.” The Spanish see them as “cold, distant, vain and impolite” and the… Continue reading