Sunday, December 14, 2003
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
On the lightness of being
I'm leaving in 12 days' time, he says, and I will not miss New York. That's up to him. I do.
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Orwell
I work in the kind of organisation that posts cheery inspirational messages on toilet cubicle doors, the kind of messages that say think positive! your only obstacles are mental barriers! - that is, the kind that make me want to go hit someone and hard. But today I was inspired by this:
"Here is the secret of inspiration. Tell yourself that tens of thousands of people, not very intelligent and certainly nore more intelligent than the rest of us, have managed to solve even more difficult problems than those that baffle you now."
Or words to that effect.
You see -
I happen to care about writing. About writing well. I think good writing trades on clarity of meaning and economy of language. I believe with Orwell that clear writing facilitates clear thinking, and that someone who writes in cliches thinks in cliches. I think it is essential to use language well.
It's a matter of style, my boss tells me. If by that he means it's a choice between having some style and having none. Look. If you take three paragraphs to say the same damn thing I'm saying in two sentences and with a far more tenuous grasp of grammar - then stop amending my work.
Do I sound frustrated yet?
But I could put up with the writing, I guess.
I never quite realised how pervasive government influence is in this country. I happen to believe that the point of the law is to limit the discretionary power of government, not increase it. I happen to believe that the burden of justification for intervention should be on the government's side. We're an interventionist government, my boss tells me. Well yes that really clears things up And by what god-given right do we dictate public morality? Or impose our prejudices as policy?
Well the director says so. The permanent secretary says so. The minister says so.
And so it is written.
We have an intern, she's just finished J1, and she says, so what's it really like in the civil service, can you change anything?
Yourself, perhaps.
"Here is the secret of inspiration. Tell yourself that tens of thousands of people, not very intelligent and certainly nore more intelligent than the rest of us, have managed to solve even more difficult problems than those that baffle you now."
Or words to that effect.
You see -
I happen to care about writing. About writing well. I think good writing trades on clarity of meaning and economy of language. I believe with Orwell that clear writing facilitates clear thinking, and that someone who writes in cliches thinks in cliches. I think it is essential to use language well.
It's a matter of style, my boss tells me. If by that he means it's a choice between having some style and having none. Look. If you take three paragraphs to say the same damn thing I'm saying in two sentences and with a far more tenuous grasp of grammar - then stop amending my work.
Do I sound frustrated yet?
But I could put up with the writing, I guess.
I never quite realised how pervasive government influence is in this country. I happen to believe that the point of the law is to limit the discretionary power of government, not increase it. I happen to believe that the burden of justification for intervention should be on the government's side. We're an interventionist government, my boss tells me. Well yes that really clears things up And by what god-given right do we dictate public morality? Or impose our prejudices as policy?
Well the director says so. The permanent secretary says so. The minister says so.
And so it is written.
We have an intern, she's just finished J1, and she says, so what's it really like in the civil service, can you change anything?
Yourself, perhaps.