Terence Blacker
The journalist and critic Terence Blacker writes a twice-weekly topical column. He is the author of four novels and his children’s books have been published in 18 languages. Blacker’s most recent book was the highly praised biography You Cannot Live as I Have Lived and Not End Up Like This: The Thoroughly Disgraceful Life and Times of Willie Donaldson.
Be proud of the Beckhams
Terence Blacker: This couple have done something old-fashioned - they have set an example
Recently by Terence Blacker
Terence Blacker: The lesson is: don't lash out at the critics
Friday, 3 July 2009
There is a new attraction at Latitude, the London Literature Festival and other hip gatherings this summer. Eminent writers from The School of Life, the social enterprise specialising in thought and ideas set up last year by the popular author and thinker Alain de Botton will be offering literary and philosophical advice on everyday problems. As de Botton himself once put it: "The words of others can benefit us not only by giving us practical advice, but also – more subtly – by recasting our confusions and griefs into eloquent communal sentences. We feel at once less alone and less afraid."
What about her second serve?
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Terence Blacker: Tennis has been comprehensively hijacked by the marketing of sex
Terence Blacker: Ageism – our most popular prejudice
Friday, 26 June 2009
Two authoritative reports published this week have confirmed, in forensic detail, how one section of the British public is routinely and systematically discriminated against. As a result, thousands are dying prematurely. Those who live are likely to work less, drink more, be more depressed and be considerably more stupid than their counterparts in America.
Terence Blacker: So how do I ditch my old computer?
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
If recycling is to be effective, it needs to be made practical and easy
Terence Blacker: At least we've oopsification to cheer us up
Friday, 19 June 2009
For a few happy weeks, it was possible to forget how broke and scared most of us were feeling. The endlessly cheering spectacle of politicians having to discuss bath-plug expenditure, of them actually trying for the first time to avoid appearing on Newsnight, was such a diverting tragic-comedy that for a while the great recession became a minor item on the finance pages.
Terence Blacker: When it comes to health, men are second-class citizens
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Campaigns for breast cancer draw headlines. Male cancers do not
Terence Blacker: The problem with society is everyone else
Friday, 12 June 2009
That great and virtuous institution, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has for the past two years been studying why British society is in such a terrible mess. It has consulted with commentators and thinkers, and has conducted a survey of 3,500 people. Now and then, tantalising insights into its progress have been released to the press. A little over a year ago, we learnt that 10 social evils of our time, including selfishness and the decline of community values, had been discovered.
Terence Blacker: You can't kill off libraries and call it 'creative'
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Prisoners have a statutory right to a library, but schoolchildren do not
Terence Blacker: Angry voters who back their censured MP
Friday, 5 June 2009
Here is an unusual angle on a grimly familiar story. The constituents of an MP who has been caught up in the expenses row are, in the phrase of the month, very, very angry. Their faith in politics and politicians has been shaken to the core. Yet the focus of the rage is not their MP, but the way he has been treated by his party and by the media.
Should children really be gambling?
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Terence Blacker: The great New Labour dream of making Britain a land fit for gamblers has moved a step nearer to fulfilment.
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Columnist Comments
• Mary Dejevsky: The future is warmer – and smaller
Survival, it seems, is no longer about being bigger. Hooray!
• Christina Patterson: Here's how we know feelings are real
I was in a monastery in Syria when I heard that Michael Jackson had died
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