The names that are used by people to describe one another are very powerful things. Compare: Abdul Hassan, seeking refuge from torture and persecution Abdul Hassan, the bogus asylum seeker sponging off the taxpayer …to see what I mean. Now I don’t know an Abdul Hassan, and I’m not trying to make a point about [...]

It’s one of those phrases that makes you wince, isn’t it? As soon as someone says, something like “I’m not a racist, but…”, you know the next words you hear are going to be something like: But those Muslins have got a lot to answer for… And yes, they quite often would get the name [...]

I noted earlier today that Mike Davies from Isolani has picked up on a piece I wrote in October last year called Be Accessible, Don’t Meet Guidelines, in which I tried to argue that WCAG was not infallible, and that it was more important to recognise the real-world accessibility needs of website users than it [...]

I read quickly. I’ve always read quickly. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a time in my life when presumably I wasn’t able to read, but at least as far back as the age of seven I would read particularly quickly. I remember reading the entire Lord Of The Rings trilogy — just over [...]

After coming across something on Stephen Lang’s site some time ago where he takes exception to an Observer journo attacking book-review bloggers. Now to be fair, the journalist in question did maintain that there are quality review blogs out there, but also that there is a lot of dross and putrid opinion that you have [...]

Yes, Dan knows which buttons to press for me, suggesting that I talk about the “Winter” festivals that are springing up all over the shop this time of year. We’re having one here in the Nag’s Head (sorry, “NewcastleGateshead”) — the Glow event is pitched as the “Winter Festival 2006″. Although to be fair to [...]

Thanks to MattieK for this one: and yes, it really is about time he got round to sorting out his website… A businessman on a plane has finished reading his newspaper, is feeling a little bored and decides to try and pass the time by indulging in a little carefree conversation, and decides to attract [...]

I found myself using one of these entirely my accident today, and then obviously berated myself appropriately. You know the sort of thing I mean: using apostrophe s to indicate a plural when obviously only the simple s is required. I call it The Grocer’s Plural because that’s where I personally see it most often: [...]

I am a regular reader of both Joe and Roger, and from Roger’s comment on the coffees at @media 06 — and the fact he links to a site called kaffesnobben, it seems apparent that he likes his coffee — indeed that he’s a self-declared coffee snob. Joe’s recent post ‘hip’ also covers coffee, although [...]

I’m presuming you all know what I mean by “follow that link”. That’s where you start on a site you definitely intended to be on, and follow a link (in this case, a commenter on someone’s blog) to read about their site. Then, when you’re on their site, you notice that they are linking to [...]