Author Archives: Campbell Aitken

In the late 1990s, when Anna and I were living in France, I got into a very wide-ranging argument with a couple of late-20s but astonishingly right-wing Americans who were staying in our Parisian hotel. One of the things we … Continue reading →

Every month or so I go out for a few beers with my mates from the Pauloton (road) and Wheezers (MTB). I’m usually successful at keeping it to three (OK, four) on a weeknight, but on a Friday or Saturday things can get a bit … Continue reading →

For decades, mainstream dietary advice has been that nuts are bad for you because they’re full of fat. In fact, a growing body of research shows that the opposite is true. Recent findings from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up … Continue reading →

A polymath is someone of great and varied learning. Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Jared Diamond, Stephen Fry, Tom Lehrer and Clive James can all be considered polymaths: they’ve done great things in very different fields. As someone who … Continue reading →

No, not the American R&B group … the two big news items of the week so far are the Philippines’ worst-ever typhoon (Wind) and the near-certainty that Australia is heading for its hottest year on record (Fire). The extreme weather events of recent years and … Continue reading →

Anna and I spent a week in Bogotá in 1992; it was dirty and felt dangerous, and most of the people looked poor and sullen. (The gastro I acquired after a few days, which caused simultaneous and explosive vomiting and … Continue reading →

Mark Forsyth is the author of The Horologicon, which he describes as a book of theoretically useful but forgotten or obscure words arranged by the hour of the day when they might come in handy. Two of his favourites are … Continue reading →

The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is a dismal book. As Sam Kriss points out in The New Enquiry (18th October 2013), in the DSM-5 normality is a “negatively defined and nebulous ideal, so anything … Continue reading →

Over the past couple of years it’s become increasingly common to hear people confuse the words ‘premier’ – pronounced ‘premm-ee-er’ – and ‘premiere’ – pronounced ‘premm-ee-air’. The confusion usually arises when the speaker is referring to the top politician in … Continue reading →

Joseph Stalin was one of the most powerful and ruthless people of the 20th century. He was also probably the most influential editor who has ever lived. As de facto leader then Premier of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s … Continue reading →