Showing 1 - 10 of 29
Let's hope 2026 is not too amazing
Roger Crutchley, Published on 04/01/2026
» Well here we are on the fourth day of a brand new year. I trust everyone is holding up well after the festivities because it can be quite gruelling pretending to behave in a jovial fashion if you are not feeling jovial at all.
Good time to celebrate verbal gaffes
Roger Crutchley, Published on 12/10/2025
» Tomorrow happens to be Plain English Day which has in recent years morphed into International Plain Language Day designed to promote the proper use of language. In other words the aim is to cut out all the gibberish, mumbo jumbo, codswallop, balderdash, tripe, tommyrot, twaddle, tosh and bosh you may have become accustomed to… heaven forbid, some of it even in PostScript.
New words I probably won't be using
Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/08/2025
» The Cambridge Dictionary recently announced the inclusion of 6,000 new words mainly derived from their common usage in social media. I fear those words will simply be added to an already lengthy list of vocabulary I am totally unfamiliar with. As one observer noted "internet culture is changing the English language."
Cheating in exams now a sophisticated art
Roger Crutchley, Published on 27/07/2025
» It was Oscar Wilde who once observed: "Exams sir, are pure humbug. If a man is a gentleman he knows quite enough, and if he is not a gentleman, whatever he knows is bad for him.''
Probably the saga to end all sagas
Roger Crutchley, Published on 08/06/2025
» The latest nationwide crackdown on motorcyclists not wearing crash helmets kicked off on June 1. Whether it will prove more effective than countless previous campaigns remains to be seen. But don't hold your breath.
Remembering a horse with no name
Roger Crutchley, Published on 23/02/2025
» Something I have always been thankful for is not succumbing to gambling. This is not because of any lofty moral stance but the reality that with my luck, I would never have a hope of winning. In fact, the only time I ever won anything by chance was at a church fete lottery at the age of 10. The prize was a large bar of soap which at that age seemed more of a punishment than a reward.
The night I was eclipsed by the Moon
Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/10/2024
» I had planned to view the super full moon last Thursday night but unfortunately forgot all about it. My apologies to the Moon. That's the sort of thing that happens these days. It went down as another failure in my rocky relationship with the heavens and ranks up there with a lunar eclipse fiasco I was involved in many moons ago, if that's the right expression.
A medley of moonlight, stars and pines
Roger Crutchley, Published on 24/09/2023
» The answer to a crossword clue I recently tackled was "Vermont" which immediately triggered memories of the beautiful 1950's song Moonlight in Vermont. When I first heard the tune as a kid it created such an alluring image of moon rays amid sycamore trees I dug out the atlas to find out where Vermont was actually located. It even looked nice on the map, tucked up in the right-hand corner of the US.
The train robbery that gripped a nation
Roger Crutchley, Published on 20/08/2023
» Last week on television I watched the two-part series The Great Train Robbery, an intriguing account of the audacious heist that made headlines in Britain all those years ago. It slowly dawned on me that this month is the 60th anniversary of that extraordinary robbery which took place on August 8, 1963, on the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London. Frightening how time flies.
It can't be worse than last year, can it?
Oped, Roger Crutchley, Published on 01/01/2023
» Well, here we are on the very first day of a brand new year. There has to be something auspicious about that. A good day to purchase lottery tickets with a few number ones perhaps?