What the semicolon's anxious supporters fret about is the tendency of contemporary writers to use a dash instead of a semicolon and thus precipitate the end of the world. Are they being alarmist?

As with email, the recipient of a texted question seems to have the option to ignore it, while nevertheless saying hello, lovely day, and so on.

We read privately, mentally listening to the author's voice and translating the writer's thoughts. The book remains static and fixed; the reader journeys through it.

There are people who embrace the Oxford comma and those who don't, and I'll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.

The way people behave towards each other is a measure of their value as human beings.

What I have always liked about Brighton is its impersonality. Since the 18th century, people have come, used the place and gone home again.

Writers and painters alike are in the business of consulting their own imaginations, and stimulating the imaginations of others. Together, and separately, they celebrate the absolute mystery of otherness.