Christina Patterson

Christina Patterson joined The Independent in 2003 as deputy literary editor and is now a full-time writer and columnist. A former director of the Poetry Society, and literary programmer at the Southbank Centre, she writes on culture, politics, books, travel and the arts and does the weekly "big interview" for the Arts & Books section. Interviewees have included Martin Amis, Alastair Campbell, Werner Herzog, David Starkey and Bryn Terfel.

Christina Patterson: There's nothing like the kindness of strangers

They are a kind of liberation – they can set you free to be anything you want

Recently by Christina Patterson

Christina Patterson: Is this what they mean by care in the NHS?

Saturday, 5 December 2009

How complicated can it be for a breast-care nurse to master the procedures of a clinic?

Christina Patterson: Forgiveness? All very nice, but rather overrated

Saturday, 28 November 2009

Sometimes, as John Lydon sang, in his post Sex Pistols band, ‘anger is an energy

Christina Patterson: Let the men eat cake (and have a chat)

Thursday, 26 November 2009

One of the exhausting things about being a woman is that there's no brief answer to that social stalwart: "How are you?" In the workplace, maybe. In the street, maybe. Even at a party, maybe, but only if you don't know the person asking you well. But with a friend? With any, in fact, of your 20 close friends? Not a chance. There's no way out. Over a glass or 10 of chardonnay, or a slice or 10 of chocolate cake, you'll have to start from the beginning and work your way grimly through to the end.

What we can learn from the Sikh in the BNP

Saturday, 21 November 2009

Christina Patterson: For ethnic harmony, you can go the route of a Tito or a Saddam Hussein

Christina Patterson: Didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to Basra

Saturday, 14 November 2009

We can visit foreign countries - and discover that who we elect really matters

Christina Patterson: Why it's hard to be a blonde in the City

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Two tales of the City. In the first, an attractive blonde meets a City financier, and is very, very cross because she is treated like "an Eastern European mail-order bride". In the second, an attractive blonde meets a City financier and is very, very cross because, she says, he tried to kiss her, even though he doesn't fancy blondes. Dearie me. It's hard to be a blonde in the City.

Christina Patterson: Why negative thinking makes the world better

Saturday, 7 November 2009

Who started the Iraq war? A man who picked out a rug to reflect his 'optimism'

Christina Patterson: My boss is discriminating against me

Thursday, 5 November 2009

Newspaper offices waste quite a lot of paper. So, in fact, do newspapers, as yesterday's splendid pine tree becomes (depending on your point of view) today's finely crafted chronicle of our times, or semi-literate showbiz goss, and tomorrow's guinea-pig toilet.