Monthly Archives: September 2010

Greedy MP’s Who Are Foul-Mouthed Bullies As Well

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Dalrymple’s writing for the Daily Express is always a little more pedestrian than his usual stuff. No long and syntactically tortured sentences here. These pieces also seem to be a little more populist in tone, usually criticizing MP’s or government bureaucrats on behalf of ordinary citizens.

This piece from last week discusses MP’s who apparently were not sufficiently chastened by the exposure of their outrageous expense claims.

UPDATE: I want to make this more clear. The “syntactically tortured” comment is a sarcastic reference to this satire on Dalrymple’s new book Spoilt Rotten wherein the writer criticizes Dalrymple’s writing style. Obviously I don’t think Dalrymple’s writing is syntactically tortured, or I wouldn’t positively gush about it (as I did here).

Or created this website, for that matter.

Digested read: Spoilt Rotten

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Here is a sure sign that Dalrymple is making some headway. You don’t get this kind of reaction from the libs at the Guardian if they think they can ignore you. They even drew up a little illustration. Crace’s satire doesn’t have the ring of truth — it veers between “accurate but not disparaging” and “disparaging but not accurate” — but I still enjoyed it. Am I being too sentimental if I give him an A for effort?

Gold Front Tooth Syndrome

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Monday Books has published a new excerpt from their Dalrymple collection “Second Opinion” on the blog they maintain for this purpose.
I can’t recommend the book highly enough. Many readers of this blog seem to have become aware of Dalrymple via “Life at the Bottom“, and “Second Opinion” similarly focuses on his experiences working with denizens of the slums, although this book relates his interactions with these patients via narrative, with hilarious results:
‘Does your current boyfriend live with you?’ I asked.
‘No, he’s in prison,’ she replied.
‘What for?’
‘Kidnap.’
‘Of whom?’
‘A man. He owed him some money.’
‘He’s been in prison before?’
‘Yes, lots of times.’
‘And he’s violent to you?’
‘Yes. You see, he’s very jealous. He doesn’t like me to talk to no one. That’s how the rows start.’
‘Has he had his hands round your throat?’
‘Yes, a few times. But he’s never squeezed hard.’
‘And what else?’
‘Well, he’s give me a broken rib, and he’s slashed me across the back with a smashed glass. But don’t get me wrong, doctor, he’s not a bad person. He’s brilliant with the kids.’