Triumph of the Airheads

A very readable new book is Shelley Gare's Triumph of the Airheads. It's very angry about lots of things, from dumbed-down postmodern education to businesses in the grip of their Human Resources departments. From our point of view the interesting chapter is the one on mindless spending on "lifestyle". Unlike some complainants about this sort of thing, Gare knows exactly what she is talking about - for years she was editor of newspaper "lifestyle supplements".

Judy Stove's paper on restraint in Jane Austen

Judy's paper, "Instruction With Amusement: Jane Austen's Women of Sense", is accepted by Renascence. Congratulations.