Philip Hensher
Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Exeter, Philip Hensher was among Granta 20 Best of Young British Novelists in 2003. The author of six novels, a collection of short stories and an opera libretto, he has won numerous prizes including the Somerset Maugham Award and the Stonewall Journalist of the Year. A regular presence in the British media, alongside his Wednesday column for The Independent, he writes for The Spectator and Mail on Sunday. His latest novel, The Northern Clemency, is published by Fourth Estate.
Philip Hensher: What we need is a certificate for toaster use
When Bobby McHale, a 15-year-old from Bury, went on a Bury and Rochdale Active Generation summer school, he was hoping to be taught new skills and be given new challenges. He didn't realise that the educational scheme was keeping such a close eye on his achievements. A while after returning, Bobby, a bright student who is expected to get good marks in his GCSEs, got a certificate, issued by an examination board, for one aspect of the scheme.
Recently by Philip Hensher
Philip Hensher: The mysteries of humanity know no end
Monday, 10 August 2009
There doesn't seem to be a clear evolutionary advantage in acting unselfishly
The free offers that deserve to be spurned
Monday, 3 August 2009
Philip Hensher: The recent case of a Japanese couple being ripped off by a Rome restaurant offers an insight into the concept of strangers being persuaded that they like each other.
Philip Hensher: When it comes to loos, Japan's are the business
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
Going to the lavatory in Japan is a perfect delight. For a start, when you sit down, the seat is gloriously warm – not with that horrid just-vacated warmth, but a considerate radiator-warmth. When you are done, the neat little console at the side offers, with self-explanatory diagrams, a range of options: an upward sprinkle of water, a more forceful shower, or the Laser Beam, adjustable in temperature, but highly suitable for waking you up in the morning. Then, if you're lucky, there might be – I don't know how else to put this – a miniature anal hair-dryer, lodged under the rim. Bliss.
Philip Hensher: Med losing the war against drunken Brits
Monday, 20 July 2009
The English go abroad to drink, often to take drugs, and to have as much sex as possible
Philip Hensher: Violence in the classroom is a two-way affair
Monday, 13 July 2009
A story in which a teacher is alleged to have struck a 14-year-old boy with a heavy weight, leading to his hospitalisation and a charge of attempted murder may seem to be a clear-cut one. Things, however, are not necessarily so straightforward, and a horrible story has more than one aspect.
Philip Hensher: Forget about a 'cure' for homosexuality
Monday, 6 July 2009
It grows increasingly hard to tell the difference between bishops of the Church of England and Paris Hilton. Bishops used to be thoughtful, retiring people, happy to spread the word of God through bring-and-buy sales, the Mothers' Union and the occasional sermon. Nowadays, some of them have been bitten by the bug of publicity, and they just can't seem to shut up.
Philip Hensher: The ugly cost of a sexy new look
Monday, 29 June 2009
Abercrombie & Fitch, the knickers-and-T-shirt emporium, is not really in the business of tact or good taste. Its CEO, Mike Jeffries, is a gentleman capped and tweaked within an inch of his life, and, in his mid-60s, apparently says "dude" a lot. In an interview from three years ago, he explained the A&F; target market. "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids," he says.
Philip Hensher: No pain like having to get rid of books
Monday, 22 June 2009
It had all gone a bit too far. At first I'd thought when the bookshelves filled up, "Well, I'll just have a pile against the wall". Then another pile joined the first, and another; months passed and more piles against the opposite wall; then a second layer.
Philip Hensher: Putin, art and the 'sausage sword' debate
Monday, 15 June 2009
Vladimir Putin was paying a visit to one of the best-known of Russian painters, Ilya Glazunov, the other day. All was going well, until he ventured away from the usual exchanges of civility between artists and rulers, and suddenly, and quite rudely, remarked of a painting of a medieval knight: "That sword's too short. It's only good to cut sausage." Most artists, at this point, might have considered handing Mr Putin the paintbrush and telling him to have a go if he thought he could do any better. But Mr Glazunov humbly agreed to correct his mistake.
Philip Hensher: English should not just be a subject for girls
Monday, 8 June 2009
I have often sat at the front of an undergraduate class in English literature and observed that the class is mainly, and sometimes overwhelmingly, female. Nobody apart from me ever seems to think this is at all odd. English literature as a subject, rather than a thing, has for years, and perhaps since its academic founding, been regarded as a female subject. And yet English literature as a thing, rather than a subject, is overwhelmingly written by men, and before the 19th century almost exclusively so.
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