Words Dept.: archive

God love BBC business editor Robert Peston, whose broad range of bizarre vocal ticks brings a light touch to news of even the most dire financial crisis. His willingness to experiment with the boundaries of word and syllable emphasis within a given sentence never ceases to amuse. You sit there waiting for it to die [...]

I shared a lift with David Miliband earlier. He muttered something about having scrambled eggs for breakfast, which he described as “jolly nice”. Some bloke standing next to him agreed they had been quite tasty.
Can I have a job at the BBC now?
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It’s difficult to work out who’s the cheesier – Radio Norwich’s finest Alan Partridge or Oldham station 96.2 The Revolution’s Steve Penk.
The former presenter of ITV’s TV’s Naughtiest Blunders (before he was replaced by, er, a voiceover) Penk has just bought the Revolution, overturning its indie playlist overnight in favour of James Blunt and sparking [...]

I’ve always felt a strange affinity with Noel Edmonds and recently realised I had several things in common with the man. Bad facial hair, diminutive stature, wardrobe full of crap shirts and knitwear, etc.
Now I find out that he shares my view (first expressed in April – like, get with the program, Noel) that the [...]

Yet another Manchester-based business news website/e-mail service has spasmed into life this month, prompting the question: Is there really enough business news to go round?
I’ve been a business journalist in Manchester for four years this month, covering the North West for a national magazine. During that time, the North West Enquirer came, ran out of [...]

Jay Rayner, the Observer food critic, is researching a feature on genetically modified food. The reason I know this is that he’s written a post on the Guardian’s Word of Mouth blog asking for pointers. It’s the first time I’ve heard of a national newspaper doing such a thing. Rayner describes it as “a different [...]

You’ve a video game called Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. You’ve got themes of Venezuelan economic collapse and petrol-as-currency. Mix it all together and you have the classic ingredients for a Sick Marketing Stunt.
[Game publisher] EA decked out the Last Stop garage, which lies between Stroud Green and Finsbury Park, in military camouflage material [...]

Later this week, a supposedly unforgettable, magical, vast, breathtaking and captivating cultural event is coming to Liverpool. It’s called La Machine and it’s a large-scale art project created by French artist François Delarozière.
I use the word “supposedly” because nobody can truly know whether it will live up to the various adjectives used above (which, like [...]