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.

Terence Blacker: The greasy gravy train of lobbyism

There is a long list of government spinners in the private sector

Recently by Terence Blacker

Terence Blacker: The Army has lost the moral high ground

Friday, 28 November 2008

Those looking for a snapshot of modern army life, which is rather more accurate than the gung-ho recruiting ads on TV, might usefully consider the misadventures of Lance-Bombardier Kerry Fletcher of the 40th Regiment, Royal Artillery. The first woman to ride with the King's Troop, Fletcher made no secret of the fact that she was a lesbian. A staff sergeant called Ian Brown sent her some randy texts offering to "convert her", telling her that she needed a real man and proposing a threesome with another female officer.

Terence Blacker: Only one person is writing this – me

Tuesday, 25 November 2008

The creation of a story is not a team event. The author is in charge

Terence Blacker: We are the real savages of the show

Friday, 21 November 2008

The celebrities-in-a-wood show is back on TV. A Page Three girl has eaten a kangaroo's testicle and was worried, rather touchingly, that she might become pregnant. The show is a sort of annual ritual which follows a predictable routine – the pretty one in the "jungle" strips down to a bikini, the mad one gets madder, the presenters giggle on the sidelines, and so on. Outside, familiar controversies are revisited, too.

Terence Blacker: Demonised - and sentimentalised

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

Our attitudes to children are dangerously confused

Terence Blacker: It's enough to make me cry... in private

Friday, 14 November 2008

The great blubbing debate has just moved to a new, decisive phase, with those of us who hold that crying in public is almost always a form of showing off in danger of being swept away on a tide of tears.

Terence Blacker: Dame Joan has a battle on her hands

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

A British Obama might be unthinkable. But so is a British McCain

Terence Blacker: Golf madness is killing the countryside

Friday, 7 November 2008

These are hard times for the old-fashioned, money-making operations that were all the rage until a few months ago. It is now a time of doubt and questions for investors. Is the business plan sound? What effect will it have on the local environment? Does it have an unacceptably large carbon footprint? Will it face opposition from planners and councils?

Terence Blacker: We're living in the Great Age of Panic

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

It is as if we need to be afraid of one thing or another in order to feel alive

Terence Blacker: Driven to despair as I wander in the seventh circle of call-centre hell

Friday, 31 October 2008

They are usually polite. They introduce themselves by their first names, and address you by yours. They assure you at every opportunity that they are there to help you. Then they take you into a nightmare world where all normal standards of behaviour are reversed and nothing is quite what it seems.

Terence Blacker: When did bullying become acceptable?

Tuesday, 28 October 2008

It is a rather bewildering contradiction of our increasingly peculiar society that, while cruelty in everyday life is the subject of unprecedented disapproval, it is positively celebrated and encouraged in the world of entertainment.

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