Words Dept.

Russell Brand and his pal Jonathan Toss have clearly touched a nerve over this whole “He fucked your granddaughter” business. But let’s get it into perspective. Why is Gordon Brown even thinking about this when real actual stuff is happening in the world? Aren’t we supposed to be on the verge of a global recession [...]

Is it possible to write about motoring taxes without coming across like white van man or a Clarksonite right-wing boor? I consider myself part of the muesli-eating, Guardian-reading carrier bag-recyling liberal set but I’m up for a challenge, so lets find out. So Gordon Brown, in his wisdom, wants to increase road tax – or [...]

I was unfortunate enough to pick up a copy of the Mail on Sunday supplement Live from the seat of a train yesterday. I instantly regretted the act because it caused me to stumble across two of Britain’s smuggest men engaging in a feast of political name-dropping. In the inside back cover is Piers Morgan, [...]

Applying any kind of critical thought to the optimistic fluff churned out by a lot of senior business people and their PRs at the moment is, it seems, tantamount to treason. As such, I’ve been told off/whinged at a couple of times in the last fortnight for contributing to the mysterious art of “talking us [...]

What I tell them is nine-tenths bullshit and one-tenth selected facts. – Stephen Carter, recently appointed chief of strategy to Gordon Brown, while chief operating officer of NTL in 2001. Alleged in a class-action lawsuit filed in New York. This quote appears on page four of today’s Observer. Meanwhile, on page five is another quote [...]

I fear Gordon Brown may be even worse than Tony Blair. His penchant for spin and adherence to short-term gain at the expense of long term vision has become depressingly obvious in the last few weeks, especially the last fortnight. The problem is especially marked given that Brown initially tried to paint himself as a [...]