Canada, as you know, is a major important nation boasting a sophisticated, cosmopolitan culture that was tragically destroyed last week by beavers.

One I'm deeply into is Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals." I was the only person in the US who hadn't read it.

The population of earth has reached 7 billion people, every single one of whom send you irritating emails to join something called "LinkedIn."

Today's beauty ideal, strictly enforced by the media, is a person with the same level of body fat as a paper clip.

Stuffwise we are not a lean operation. We're the kind of people who, if we were deciding what absolute minimum essential items we'd need to carry in our backpacks for the final, treacherous ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, would take along aquarium filters, just in case.

The story of the eighties will be the story of the Reagan administration and the many men and women who served in it, some of whom are already out on parole.

I think if you use Twitter and social media as your main source of information you are an idiot, but I think most people who use it know better, so I kind of enjoy it.