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This page represents only my own views, and not those of any university or other body. Posted Sunday 31st July 2011 at 10.48am Habeas corpus and lawns Or, Beware of commas! I have read two books this week. (Actually I have read three and a half books this week, but only two are worth talking about.) When I was in Germany, I would often be asked difficult questions about the English language. (The French asked me questions too, but usually not nearly so difficult.) Pity the mathematician transformed from fool to sage by virtue of moving countries. One of the favourites was "when should I use a comma?" - to which I would grimace and say that I have difficulties myself, and that there aren't really any rules, and that one has to listen to the sentence. At this point my interrogator would inform me that in German there are hard and fast rules for using commas. Once someone said "You aren't very worried about your language, are you?", which was quite the opposite of what I meant, but that person is perhaps the most stereotypically German person I know. "The Elegance of the Hedgehog", by Muriel Barbery, is a translation of the French book "L'élégance du hérisson". I haven't read the French version - I think it would be too difficult for me. It must have been a very difficult book to translate, and overall (as far as one can tell without reading the original) I think the translator did a very good job. It's a book about art that tries to be art itself. Perhaps if I knew more of the literary references, I would have found it heavy-handed, like Dan Brown with pretensions of grandeur; instead I thought it more like Ali Smith with something to say, although that sounds like damning with faint praise. I enjoyed it very much. The second book was "Persuasion" by Jane Austen. Less surprizing than Sense and Sensibility, and not as funny as Emma; but more effortlessly written than either, with prose so delightful at times that one wonders whether her earlier novels were over-edited (or whether she simply improved with age). And now I am back in England, and the smell of the grass is intoxicating; I want to play cricket again. Posted Saturday 23rd July 2011 at 10.23am A bigger crime than phone hacking See this post. The answer to my question is a big fat no. But it's a crime nonetheless. Any new independent press-watching body should contain a few statisticians and have the power to fine newspapers for deliberately misleading statistics. Posted Thursday 21st July 2011 at 3.32pm Please stay, Mr Cameron I guess there was always going to be a day when Rupert Murdoch's power waned. I'm glad he was there to see it. Perhaps his incompetence in front of the select committee was an act designed to engender sympathy, but regardless, it was embarrassing to watch. It has also been embarrassing to see quite how direct an influence his company had over the police. Everyone knew he had a worryingly large indirect influence over the government, and Cameron's employment of Andy Coulson is an extension of that. The calls for Cameron to resign, though, seem premature - as Dave himself has pointed out, Coulson is still innocent, and moreover even if he is found guilty eventually, he was innocent when he was employed by the Tories. It was a misjudgement to employ him, not a crime. Besides, if Dave resigned, who would take over? Clegg would be in temporarily of course but the Tories wouldn't stand for that in the long term - we'd probably end up with someone a whole lot worse. Song of the week: Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes Posted Wednesday 13th July 2011 at 10.12am Lifes Rich Pageant Lifes Rich Pageant - which has recently been remastered and rereleased - is one of my favourite two REM albums (along with Murmur). For me, this is where the gradual move (not linear, but there nonetheless) from mystery and shade to politics and pop hit its sweet spot: "tiger run around the tree, follow the leader, run and turn into butter"; "I had a hat I put it down and it sunk, reached down, yanked it up, slapped it on my head"; "night wings, her hair chains, here's your wooden greenback, sing"; "I believe in coyotes and time as an abstract". The harmonies in Fall on Me; the energy of Just a Touch; the anger behind Cuyahoga. It's a weird album, no doubt, but it makes sense in a haphazard kind of way, even the last two tracks, "Swan Swan H" and "Superman". And it rattles along at a furious pace, song after song and never a dud. Weird, yes, but wonderful. Unfortunately (for me and you) EMI have blocked all the LRP songs I could find online. So here's a cornier song of the week... Song of the week: Take me home, country road by John Denver Eurostar, take me home, To the place I belong: Westdale Lane, Mapp'ley, Nottn'm, Take me home, Eurostar. Posted Friday 1st July 2011 at 10.33am Roundabouts The BBC website contains a lot of rubbish. This "story" is a good example. But it's the first time I've ever heard anyone who agrees with my views on roundabouts. Maybe I've been bringing it up with the wrong people... but as Tony the tiger would say, roundabouts are grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat! Posted Thursday 30th June 2011 at 3.45pm I always cry at endings Were it not for "The state I am in", this might be the definitive Belle and Sebastian song. Simple and quiet, a great melody, and words... sitting on a bus, reading a book... words that are almost embarassed to be said out loud. "I always cry at endings," admits Stuart. Then, "Oh, that isn't what I meant to say at all!" Posted Friday 24th June 2011 at 9.57am Two new articles I've put two preprints up on the arxiv. There should be another following very soon. Three reasons for the lack of posts on here recently! Posted Thursday 23rd June 2011 at 12.14am Tenth Avenue freeze-out Rest in peace, Clarence Clemons. Posted Friday 17th June 2011 at 10.54pm Incredible scenes! Orangutan rescues coot chick from water at zoo in Dublin Posted Monday 13th June 2011 at 5.20pm Sound is the colour I know After a weekend at the German maths postgrad football championships (congratulations to champions Erlangen, and thanks to organisers Eichstätt), listening to Lu-lu-lu-lukas Podolski and Cowboy und Indianer, I woke up this morning with the Posies' "Solar Sister" in my head. I'm not sure why, but I'm not complaining. Since I didn't do a song of the week last week, I will indulge myself this week with two. The second is a new song from Beirut - it really takes off after about 2 minutes 20. Beirut - East Harlem by Revolver USA
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