- Insubordination and the surveillance state
"There’s nothing new about this, just the tools to do so are far more powerful."
- All of Mercury
Amazing!
- Will Doctor Who have a very special surprise for us in November?
I really really hope this rumour is true.
- North Down elects gay mayor
My old friend Andrew making history. Delighted to bump into him this evening.
- Duyuyor muzun bizi? Turkish protesters sing
Spine-tingling and moving.
- Irish government publishes plans to abolish Seanad
Hooray!
From the Heart of Europe
Books, politics, languages and life
Dialect is valuable linguistic diversity if you are one of the lucky ones who also have a good command of the standard language and can choose which to use. If you don’t, then it’s a barrier and a problem. In this context, calling it dialect is insidious. Normally standard language is elite language, and defending dialect means defending cultures of non-elite and excluded groups. In this case it is the elite who are using non-standard language, and not always switching back to standard English when they are writing for the interested voter. All language rules are arbitrary, but I shouldn’t have to read a dialect dictionary to be allowed to join the conversation about how my taxes are spent.