Category Archives: Language

A place at table

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

Commensality. I first came across the word a few years ago when I wrote an appeal for a community of monks. It means the act of sitting at table together (remember that famous first declension Latin noun, mensa?). Commensality was … Continue reading →

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Finding the flame

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been involved in the drafting of three large, high-profile public documents, one an urban regeneration strategy, one an export strategy for a national industry body, and one a long-term plan for a cultural … Continue reading →

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An anniversary

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Jamie Jauncey

There’s something perversely appropriate about the fact that the darkest Christmas period I can remember (I’m speaking meteorologically here), should have heralded the year in which Dark Angels celebrates its tenth anniversary. Though there is actually nothing dark about Dark … Continue reading →

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Through the wall

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I’m looking at a picture of the Great Wall of China. It’s on a calendar given to me by my friend and acupuncturist Wenbo Xu. There are two crane-like birds in a meadow in the foreground. Beyond them the wall … Continue reading →

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To the letter

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

Last week I spent a day with members of the housing team of a local authority. We were looking at the letters they send out to tenants on a variety of subjects, ranging from noise to rubbish to gardens to … Continue reading →

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Inner voices

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

Ten days ago I gave a talk to 20 Scottish judges as part of a two-day seminar on Judicial Writing and Reasoning. I was the cabaret on the second morning, a one-hour slot sandwiched between the Lord Justice Clerk who … Continue reading →

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Nine years

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

It’s nine years since the very first Dark Angels course took place at the Arvon writers centre at Totleigh Barton in Devon. Even more amazingly, it seems to me, it’s seven since we held our first advanced course on the … Continue reading →

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Human and humane

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I started this blog exactly four years ago, on 18th August 2009. I think it would have surprised me then to know that I would still be going four years later. In that first post I wrote this: ‘I want … Continue reading →

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Gwynne’s Grammar

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I hadn’t heard of Nevile Gwynne until this morning. Michael Gove clearly has. Gwynne is a former businessman and self-taught grammarian whose primer has been endorsed by the Education Secretary as one of the books he wishes his civil servants … Continue reading →

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Sin of omission?

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Jamie Jauncey

I was listening at lunchtime yesterday to the BBC’s director of human resources being grilled about bullying and the ‘strong undercurrent of fear’ uncovered at the corporation by its recent Respect at Work review. The interviewer suggested that the human … Continue reading →

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