Personal Blogs

I have now finished reading "The Student's Guide to Writing" by Peck and Coyle, published by Palgrave (2005).

I deliberately read this book out of curiosity about the approach and the dating of the material about style.  It is by no means the first book about correct English that I have read.  As I expected, it taught me virtually nothing that I did not know already.

The authors have taken an approach which is simple, stepwise, and uncontroversial.  They refer to their own experiences of teaching at Cardiff University, and the weight of this experience is reflected in the way the book is written.  The most obvious example of this is the complete absence of any exercises.  There is a brief explanation of this, which is the simple observation that nobody would ever do them - which is true.

If you are a student (from any discipline) who feels nervous about writing essays, or has problems with disentangling the things you want to express from the words you use to express them, or if you think that your written work is not as correct as it might be, then this is the book for you.  If you already know the difference between a preposition and an adverb of place, then you are unlikely to gain anything from it. 

The book, while written in a highly competent manner, in my opinion lacks the majesty of "The Complete Plain Words" (the original version of which is now somewhat dated, but which has been revised several times). 

“Hello.  Welcome to Part 2 of this audio CD which goes with Open University course A17B Start Talking Bollocks.  My name is Cuthbert Dry-Monotone, and I am here with well-known Scottish novelist, Callum MacIrnbru.  His gritty and realistic books explore themes such as conflict, loss, bereavement, dislocation, and dental decay.  We are here to talk about how he creates an atmosphere which is conducive to creativity and productive writing.”

[Sound of footsteps on a gravel path.]

“Where are we going now?”

“To my shed.”

[Sound of a door creaking and rain on a wooden roof.]

“Aha.  Now here we have quite an array of objects.  What have we got?  We have a rusty bicycle frame; a Wellington boot which seems to have a hole in it; a number of child’s dolls, each with a limb or head missing; a zinc bath; a hurricane lamp; a leather suitcase with the handle broken off; a twin-tub washing machine; an old electric fan; a large box full of empty jam jars; a wooden tennis racket; a tea-chest containing various - how shall I put it? - 'top-shelf' magazines, and assorted buckets, plant pots and watering-cans.”

“Indeed.”

“And how would you characterise this collection?”

“It’s shit.”

[Uncertainly.] “Aah.  And how do you use it in your preparation for writing?”

“I don’t.  I’d take it all to the dump if I could be arsed.”

"Er...And the noise of the rain drumming on the roof...What effect do you find that rhythmical sound has on your psyche?"

"It really makes me want to do a wee-wee."

“Cut!”  [Muttering.]  “Ian Rankin was never like this.”

*None of this is true, either. 

After starting A215 Creative Writing, I have today taken delivery of "The Student's Guide to Writing" by Peck and Coyle, published by Palgrave.

I will post a review of this book when I have finished reading it.  So far, I have read about the first ten pages, about sentence construction. The approach seems standard and uncontroversial, and the presentation lively but free from distractions. 

I hope that a long, thick, sharp, rust-proof nail has been driven into the coffin lid of the BNP by this documentary. 

The BNP has been described as the party of white, working-class, disaffected, unemployed youth.

I say that the BNP is the party of a bunch of lazy idiots who are pathologically incapable of understanding the requirements of the flexible labour market. 

The Right Reverend John Packer, Bishop of Ripon and Leeds has disagreed with the opinion expressed by Lord Carey about immigration, and I definitely agree with Ripon and Leeds.

I wrote to the Right Reverend John Packer about 6 years ago to congratulate him on his statement to his congregation that, as Christians, they should not vote for the BNP. 

He was kind enough to respond to my letter in an encouraging way. 

Therefore, I am not surprised to find that the Rt Rev John Packer realises certain things that Lord Carey doesn't.  For example:  bringing new immigrants into the UK does not necessarily increase the burden on our infrastructure.  If they are of tax-paying age, and are immediately employable, and are brought within the purview of the State straight away, then they represent an asset rather than a liability.  This certainly accounts for all those who are brought in to work for the NHS (whose loss represents a catastrophe for the countries in the developing world from where they came). 

Last night, my partner and I took our 9 year old son to see "Avatar" in 3D.  All three of us thoroughly enjoyed it.

I would not have mentioned this, but it continues from the theme of my previous post, because one of the main subjects the film deals with is racial violence.  The Na'vi (the goodies) seemed to be a kind of pastiche of various indigenous peoples from Africa, Australia and America (plus whatever influence caused them to be blue, have tails, and be ten feet tall). 

The baddies are the security division of an American mining company.  Don't let this put you off: the film does contain a lot of explosions, but it is by no means just explosions.  I have an inherent dislike of films which rely entirely on special effects, but this is not one of them.  The effects are used to create scenes of beauty and contemplation as well as to depict conflagration. 

I think the film would have been much more interesting if it had derived from British Imperialism rather than American Imperialism.  The Na'vi are divided into clans, which is an arrangement that the British Empire's representatives would have recognised and latched onto immediately.  Rather than sending in hundreds of helicopter gunships, they would have taken steps to find out what the structure of these clans was and which of them was the strongest.  Some pretext would then have been found to incite violence between this one and some of the others, armaments would have been shipped in, and eventually a deal struck whereby the strong tribe would police the others, and they would all be left in relative peace as long as the mineral shipments were delivered on time.

I am not suggesting that British Imperialism was more humane than its American offspring - just more efficient. 

I read in today's Times and on the BBC website that the PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) curriculum is to be expanded to include lessons intended to reduce the amount of domestic violence committed against girls and women. 

I further read that Margaret Morrissey of a pressure group called "Parents Outloud" said: "The Government should focus on teaching children to read, write and all those things they need to get a career.  This political correctness is turning our children into confused mini-adults."

I disagree.  I suggest that a teenage boy who (a) thinks it is permissible to hit his girlfriend, and possibly other female persons as well and (b) goes on to commit such acts of violence is already a "confused mini-adult" and needs tuition and therapy to enable him to develop into a healthy teenager. 

One of the greatest changes that our society has undergone in the last 100 years is to do with the economic role of women.  The increase in participation of women in the paid labour market is absolutely irreversible for a number of complex reasons.  For the first time in history, women in the UK are now the majority of the (paid) labour force. 

This is a change that a considerable number of males are unable to cope with.  (One body of such males has banded together to form an organisation called 'The British National Party', or BNP.)  One of the ways that such inadequate individuals use to sublimate their feelings of confusion and frustration is violence.  This is unhealthy, aberrant, and preventable. 

The Government is entirely right to intervene in this situation.  Apart from the humanitarian cost of domestic violence (dealing with which on its own is enough to justify spending public money) there are economic benefits which will arise from girls and women having a more confident belief in their own worth, and more equitable and better-articulated relations between male and female adolescents.