Articles from the author

You probably blinked and didn't notice it, but last Thursday was International Car Free Day, supported by the United Nations and the European Union.

Napoleon Bonaparte's attempts at learning English have gone on display at an exhibition in London this week.

Just when we thought the mobile phone had gone as far as it is possible for any device to go, it sneaks up and surprises us with a new party trick.

And they say tabloid journalists have a lot to answer for. Just consider this bit of news that has rocked the foundations of the hallowed inner sanctum of English literature.

Is the cup half full or half empty when it reaches the midway mark? The optimist would say half full. The pessimist would declare it half empty. The pragmatist would say neither.

Two separate news stories emerged on separate days during the past week but they are as inseparably intertwined as a DNA helix.

I am becoming something of an expert on empty cinemas. This is because I am usually the last to leave. The ushers and usherettes have hung up their torches and gone yawning off either to bed or to their next assignments at cinema three, four seven, nine or whatever, and I am still sitting there.

Bleary-eyed and stiff-jointed, we decanted ourselves from the Dubai flight and were sucked into the bowels of Manchester International Airport in Britain.

It was either it or me. Lindsay versus the Plastic Menace. A duel that could have just one victor. I had just bought a pair of scissors from a supermarket.

I have long nurtured the suspicion that the more we allow ourselves to be wooed by so-called "reality" TV and the virtual reality of cyberspace, the more we are in fact losing touch with reality.

The most beautiful word in the English language is "mother", according to a survey among non-English speakers.