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Anthony Zacharzewski

Anthony Zacharzewski

Working to make European democracy work. "Refreshingly free of the usual platitudes". Belge par choix, Brits door opvoeding. President of Demsoc.org but posts here are personal.

📍 Brussels

The Stories of English (David Crystal)

David Crystal’s The Stories of English is a fascinating book, shot through with honest passion for the language (also on display in his excellent Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language). It’s a long book, and closely typeset on long lines, so I wouldn’t recommend buying the paperback

Sellotape and trains

Much artificial outrage in the tabs today at a train driver who asked his passengers for sticky tape to fix his train. What is the world coming to, is the Mail’s view. Of course, aficionados of the Thomas the Tank Engine oeuvre, as my son and I are, will

Wimbledon 2005

Off to Wimbledon with my sister yesterday. Three hours queuing for ground passes, which on a warm day was just fine. Saw the Andrew Murray game on Henman Hill/Murray Field/Aorangi Terrace, and plenty of snatches of good live tennis – Mary Pierce beating Ivanovic, a moment or two of

Price William, MA

Prince William graduated from university today (MA in geography, for what it’s worth), and the press hoopla around it reminded me of how cruel fate is to make people Royal. Not only are the general public (and a fair sprinkling of nutters) constantly speculating about your love life, but

Great words: Paradiastole

paradiastole – rewording a bad thing to make it seem good, or a good thing to make it seem bad. So: drunkenness – good companionship or clemency – weakness. Picked up in the New York Review of Books, talking about Quentin Skinner‘s work on rhetoric and political theory.

Iran moves right

Results from the first round of the Iranian election have pitted a right-winger against … er … an even more right-winger. Interesting to see whether there’ll be a Chriac/LePen vote split next Friday.

Bob Geldof vs. the Human Rights Act

Bill Thompson lays into Live8 and Bob Geldof over the eBay selling controversy. Brief recap: people were selling their legally-obtained Live8 tickets on eBay. Geldof was upset, threatened boycotts, etc. eBay caved, ticket sales withdrawn. Bill rightly points out that this is a pretty illiberal thing to do. eBay’s

Staying in Brighton

I was in Brighton the other weekend, househunting with the family. We decided to stay a couple of nights as a treat (the move to Amersham had just fallen through), and also to give us a couple of evenings out on the town. We stayed at the very pleasant New

South London tube

What if all the Tubes were south of the river instead?

Turn-around time

Barry Goldwater, arch conservative, speaking in 1964, and quoted on Fierce Planet: “The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on