New for 2020 – Podcasts!
From January 2020 I’m recording each post as a podcast, in addition to the written version which you can continue to read as usual. I’m also gradually adding selected posts from the archive (going back to 2009) as podcasts. Click here or on the Podcasts tab in the navigation bar.
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This blog is called A Few Kind Words because the word kindness originally meant being kin, or kindred, or of the same kind. And since we are all humankind, we should remember to be kinder to one another when we communicate. The alternative is to be unkind, to use language which fails to connect or even alienates. The choice isn't hard.Twitter Updates
- @sarasheridan found this in some family pics and thought of you for some reason! May have had it because Don Robe… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 1 week ago
- RT @DonRobertoCG: Who’s that young fellow trying to get me to talk? https://t.co/qziXTN5ZX8 1 week ago
- RT @joannaccherry: Some of the more glaikit looking new Tory MPs loudly jeering @Ianblackford_MP as he gets to his feet at #PMQS are clearl… 2 weeks ago
- Sadly not me @ThereseKieran - didn't have time! But I'm now working on it ... twitter.com/ThereseKieran/… 2 weeks ago
- Somehow I feel I won't be the only blogger offering a personal retrospective as we head into 2020. But one you can… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 2 weeks ago
Tag Archives: management speak
Truth in Assynt
I’m reading a beautiful book. At The Loch of the Green Corrie is by Scottish novelist, poet and mountaineer, Andrew Greig. Part memoir, part meditation on fishing and wilderness, part tribute to another Scottish poet, Norman MacCaig, it speaks to … Continue reading
Hold me
As in life, so in art – we do need constraints. In their own way they can even liberate, by relieving us of the pressure of having to encompass everything. That has certainly been my experience with the two 26 … Continue reading
Why fiction?
‘Why should I read fiction?’ This was a question put by one of our students in Spain, a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good question, and a reminder for me that not everyone has the passion for stories that … Continue reading
Crystal clear
My final event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, last weekend, was hosting the linguistics professor, David Crystal, one of the world’s foremost authorities on language. A consummate communicator, David was speaking mainly about the wonderfully titled Begat, his new … Continue reading
Who dares …
I have spent most of this week in Charlotte Square, home of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, drinking too much coffee, eating too many sandwiches, but revelling in my annual literary fix – the company of other writers. Some are … Continue reading
Death sentences
Nailing his colours to David Miliband’s mast last week in the Labour leadership election, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: ‘his greatest talent is the ability to put really complex ideas into very simple language.’ Personally, I don’t know about … Continue reading
