Previously known for its six syllables of sweetness and light, reconciliation has become the political fighting word of the year.

A reader should be able to identify a column without its byline or funny little picture on top purely by look or feel, or its turgidity ratio.

I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.

I want my questions answered by an alert and experienced politician, prepared to be grilled and quoted -- not my hand held by an old smoothie.

Never look for the story in the 'lede.' Reporters are required to put what's happened up top, but the practiced pundit places a nugget of news, even a startling insight, halfway down the column, directed at the politiscenti. When pressed for time, the savvy reader starts there.

Why use a modifier to set straight a not-quite-right noun when the right noun is available?

Give your main clause a little space. Prose is not like boxing; the skilled writer deliberately telegraphs his punch, knowing that the reader wants to take the message directly on the chin.