Why does the Tory media spend so much time attacking the PM?

David Cameron speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on 25 June 2014.

In the wake of the hacking trial yesterday, I still don't understand why the Conservative-supporting press and media are so anti-Cameron.

Can anyone enlighten me on this???

3 part lists revisited again!


Today Mendip District Council only collect our recycling boxes, but NOT our green wheelie bins - see the late great Gail Jefferson, above, on 3 part lists (and at http://maxatkinson.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/why-so-many-lists-of-three-mystery.html).

Who'd have thought any local authority smart enough to know about Gail and the power of three part lists?!

Not to mention a pub at Lulworth Cove in Dorset which has a welcoming three part list on its wall that reads:

SLEEPING 
EATING 
DRINKING!!!


Trailer for my new book coming out in 2014 and featuring extracts from this blog


TURN A DEAF EAR
CONVERSE, COMMENT, COMMUNICATE

MAX ATKINSON

By the same author

Discovering Suicide: Studies in the Social Organization of Sudden Death (1978) London, The Macmillan Press

Order in Court: The Organisation of Verbal Interaction in Judicial Settings (with Paul Drew) (1979) London, The Macmillan Press.

Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis (edited with John Heritage) (1984) New York, Cambridge University Press

Our Masters’ Voices: The Language & Body Language of Politics, London and New York, Methuen, 1984, (reprinted by Methuen, 1986, reprinted by Routledge, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, reprinted and transferred to digital printing by Taylor and Francis 2005)

Lend Me your Ears: All you need to know about making speeches and presentations (2004) London, Vermilion; Random House, New York, Oxford University Press 2005), translated into Russian and Spanish (2014)
Comments on the title and/or anything else about the project (e.g how long should it be) will be especially welcome.

"20 is plenty" in the Somerset village where I live

Readers of this blog and/or any of my books such as "Lend Me Your Ears", "Our Masters' Voices", "Speech-making and Presentation MADE EASY" and/or anyone attending one of my courses will know that poetic elements often play a really crucial part in effective communication by the greatest speakers of all time.
But, thanks to Mendip District Council and/or Somerset County Council, you can forget what so-called experts like me drone on about in their courses. Why else would they entertain us with needlessly expensive  road signs like the one you see on entering Old Ditch:

"TWENTY IS PLENTY"

Time, methinks, I retired, don't you think....

And I did actually retire on 29th April 2014, but am still running courses and writing books!

What's news about meeting and talking to an Afro-Carribean cyclist in deepest Somerset?

Today, during an hour's walk through the beautiful countryside near my home, I was surprised to meet an Afro-Carribean dressed in full kit for a long stint at cycling.

It was a very expensive bike with the latest in gear-changing equipment. 

  1. Should I have been surprised?
  2. Should I be ashamed? 
  3. Should I have noticed?
  4. Does the noticing mean I'm a prejudiced bastard because he spoke with an upper-class English accent.


  1. But I do confess to being surprised.
  2. I do feel ashamed by my reaction.
  3. I should not have noticed.
  4. I was wrong to be surprised by his upper-class English accent...
I hope that no one will notice and/or come up with better answers than mine in a generation's time (I am 70 years old) - especially when I'm related by marriage to someone as charming as Ade, who moved his family to Australia hoping to escape a life marred by color-prejudice in the UK.

Comments, as ever, welcome!

Blogging begins again

After a few weeks off with depression, a second opinion is demonstrating that it can be 'cured'.

Now finances are looking as healthy as they ever were, I'd like to thank loyal readers for continuing to visit.

Only trouble is that my Mac computer is misbehaving - on which, more anon...

And comments, as ever, are welcome.


Cartooning revisited?

Time to start blogging again - with thanks to loyal readers who have continued visiting since I became ill with depression. A recent second opinion says it won't be long until I'm a lot better...