Christina Patterson
Christina Patterson joined The Independent in 2003 as deputy literary editor and is now a full-time writer and columnist. A former director of the Poetry Society, and literary programmer at the Southbank Centre, she writes on culture, politics, books, travel and the arts and does the weekly "big interview" for the Arts & Books section. Interviewees have included Martin Amis, Alastair Campbell, Werner Herzog, David Starkey and Bryn Terfel.
Christina Patterson: Didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to Basra
We can visit foreign countries - and discover that who we elect really matters
Recently by Christina Patterson
Christina Patterson: Why it's hard to be a blonde in the City
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Two tales of the City. In the first, an attractive blonde meets a City financier, and is very, very cross because she is treated like "an Eastern European mail-order bride". In the second, an attractive blonde meets a City financier and is very, very cross because, she says, he tried to kiss her, even though he doesn't fancy blondes. Dearie me. It's hard to be a blonde in the City.
Christina Patterson: Why negative thinking makes the world better
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Who started the Iraq war? A man who picked out a rug to reflect his 'optimism'
Christina Patterson: My boss is discriminating against me
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Newspaper offices waste quite a lot of paper. So, in fact, do newspapers, as yesterday's splendid pine tree becomes (depending on your point of view) today's finely crafted chronicle of our times, or semi-literate showbiz goss, and tomorrow's guinea-pig toilet.
Christina Patterson: Why we can't resist a little dice with death
Saturday, 31 October 2009
They need a ‘gap year’ because they’ve barely been allowed past their front door
Why politics isn't just a game for the boys
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Christina Patterson: We’ve seen what happens when a gung-ho, risk-ridden male culture prevails.
Christina Patterson: If you want to be adored, just shut up
Thursday, 22 October 2009
So, poor old Hollywood's got its knickers in a twist about Twitter. The biggest, slickest marketing machine in the world can't keep its hands off a medium that's all about youth, and being plugged in, and being hip, that's also, like, instant, and, more importantly, free, which is totally cool, but there's just one little problem. The stars.
Christina Patterson: Art, money and a marriage made in hell
Saturday, 17 October 2009
The market has survived. The Kapoors and the Quinns are flying out the door
Christina Patterson: Energy, drive, decisiveness – and knowledge of libel laws
Thursday, 15 October 2009
"The culture of our company has been built around the qualities of the markets in which we work. We encourage our people to be energetic; driven and decisive and pursuing opportunity; respectful both of the significance of what we do and of the individual needs and qualities of our customers and suppliers."
Christina Patterson: The night a thief stole more than just a handbag
Saturday, 10 October 2009
I’ve pressed more numbers, in more ‘menus’, than a code breaker at Bletchley
Christina Patterson: Let's preserve the dotty, dying don
Thursday, 8 October 2009
If I were rewriting Dante's Inferno, I'd ensure that the catalogue of punishments included a PhD. Perhaps for the bankers – the men in Armani, seeking instant fortunes from hot air – a seven-year sentence, in corduroys, in libraries, on semi-colons in Finnegans Wake. There'd be no Starbucks. No Blackberries. No shrieking or baying or bragging. Nothing except piles and piles of lit-crit, time stretching out to an invisible, distant horizon, and silence.
Columnist Comments
• Steve Richards: Party leaders still fear the Holiday Test
Blair took his family to Australia in the winter of 1996. Revealingly, no one raised a murmur
• Terence Blacker: A great day for famous do-gooders
For celebrities, highly visible charity activities are a good deal
• Mary Dejevsky: Cash-machine man in need of withdrawal
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! I have arrived at the local cash-machine to find no one there
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7 Leading article: The Afghan strategy is finally beginning to shift
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9 Imran Khan: We must address the root causes of this terror
10 Adrian Hamilton: You can't choose a camel this way let alone two horses
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