Thinking AloudEnglish Blog

TV's The (Celeb) Traitors - a masterclass in the need to plan an essay. With no spoilers! There’s something almost indecently satisfying about pulling off a plan.  The clean click of cause and effect.  The sly grin of inevitability.  It’s why The A-Team and every child of the 70s loved it when a plan came together.  And why The Traitors, especially last night’s celebrity edition, is the most exquisite piece of clockwork on television.

Every so often, the internet gifts us a reminder that studying English isn’t just about dusty novels and poetry anthologies.  Exhibit A: the scam email that landed in my inbox.

This was a weekend painting course inspired by the gardens of Great Dixter.  If you’ve never been, imagine colour at full volume.  Wild tangles of poppies, calendulas, and dahlias throwing themselves into the light like they’ve got something to prove.  Glorious. 

And that’s the power of reading, isn’t it?  Stories settle differently in the mind when they pass through the eyes rather than the ears. 

While Western culture often casts snakes in a sinister light (looking at you, Bible), the Chinese interpretation is far more nuanced...

Ah, January - the time of year we vow to eat kale, embrace exercise, and Marie Kondo our lives, only to end up binge-watching TV...

There’s nothing quite like a Francis Bacon exhibition to remind you that life is equal parts grotesque, tragic, and utterly captivating.