Philip Hensher

Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Exeter, Philip Hensher was among Granta 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 2003. The author of six novels, a collection of short stories and an opera libretto, he has won numerous prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award and the Stonewall Journalist of the Year. A regular presence in the British media, alongside his Wednesday column for The Independent, he writes for The Spectator and Mail on Sunday. His latest novel, The Northern Clemency, is published by Fourth Estate.

Philip Hensher: Gaffes that can be a boon to Cameron

Peter Hobbins is a member of the Conservative association in Orpington, Kent, and a local councillor. In the past, he was a Conservative Party candidate, failing to win the Rhondda seat in the 2001 General Election. He was struck by the changing nature of aspiring Tory politicians, and put his thoughts in a series of e-mails to fellow Orpington conservatives. Candidates included, he said, "a Mr Dilon Gumraj and a Zerha Zaidi and others ... not one of them has a 'normal' English name ... Maybe I should change my name to something foreign – how does Petrado Indiano Hobbinso sound to you?" Startling stuff, and Mr Hobbins has been suspended from the party forthwith.

Recently by Philip Hensher

Philip Hensher: Computers have got a lot to learn about grammar

Monday, 16 November 2009

We're all getting, I fear, a computerised reading device for Christmas, allowing us to read the complete works of dozens of novelists through the magic of a seven-by-four screen. What happens if the logical conclusion is reached, and the computer takes to reading what we write, and judging it, too?

Philip Hensher: But that was in another country...

Monday, 9 November 2009

Sometimes, when I'm in Berlin, I seem to glimpse the ghost of a different city inhabiting these same streets. In Prenzlauer Berg, behind the gleamingly restored Jugendstil apartment blocks and chic restaurants serving Sunday brunches, there rises up a shabby, grey street with a single cellar bar; behind the lavish grandeur of Unter Den Linden, the sight of a pathetic shop, its wares pushed to the front, two quiet assistants following passers-by with their eyes. Friedrichstrasse, going in the direction of Kreuzberg, has a slight kink; in the mind's eye a cabin rises up, a barrier, a 10-foot wall, the sign "YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE AMERICAN SECTOR".

Philip Hensher: What students should learn about learning

Monday, 2 November 2009

The "consumer revolution" in universities continues apace, and tomorrow a paper will be published by Lord Mandelson setting out the detailed public information universities must provide.

Philip Hensher: When death triumphs over the writer's art

Monday, 26 October 2009

For 30 years, a famous bundle of 138 index cards has remained in a Swiss bank vault. Famous, but seen by hardly anybody. The novel that Vladimir Nabokov was working on at the time of his death, The Original of Laura, was preserved by his family against his apparent wishes to have it destroyed if he died with it unfinished.

Philip Hensher: Seeing the world through hipsters' eyes

Monday, 19 October 2009

Down at Frieze, the immense London contemporary art fair which takes over a chunk of Regents Park every October. My attention is not altogether on the art, however, but on an interesting development in eye-wear. This is a crowd which evidently fancies itself to be on-trend and one step ahead of the high street.

Philip Hensher: Some things should stay in the hinterland

Monday, 12 October 2009

My old friend Michael Gove was speaking at the Cheltenham festival of literature about John Buchan, the great pre-war thriller writer. He said that more politicians nowadays should embody the values proposed and exemplified by Buchan's work. Buchan, he said, proved that public service was an end in itself; that one did not need to reach the highest offices to live a valuable life. "It is not being there for the glory of it all," said Michael, "so much as to serve in public office."

Philip Hensher: The Cameron dilemma for impressionists

Monday, 5 October 2009

That thoughtful and accomplished comedian-impressionist, Alistair McGowan, has said he is quite unable to imitate David Cameron. After repeated attempts, "all that comes out is an upper-class whisper". It's true: has anyone succeeded in capturing Cameron's way of talking, or even in isolating any characteristic gestures? His voice doesn't sound "upper class" to me: it sounds neutral, relaxed, and middle class, like a BBC announcer from the 1970s. He is remarkably free of verbal or physical tics, as far as I can see; there is little on the surface to ridicule.

Philip Hensher: Flummoxed by foreign tongues

Thursday, 1 October 2009

What was the BBC doing, sending a reporter who can't speak German?

Philip Hensher: The art of death on a mass scale

Monday, 28 September 2009

At any period in history, the Aztecs' customs would have been regarded as abhorrent

Philip Hensher: Alesha for Arlene is pure dumbing down

Monday, 21 September 2009

Earlier this year, the BBC stirred up a fair amount of irritation with the news that it had sacked one of the judges of its popular Saturday night celebrity talent show, Strictly Come Dancing. The BBC was looking to refresh the line-up of judges. Arlene Phillips, though a very experienced choreographer, was felt by the BBC to be the main candidate for removal.

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