Howard Jacobson

Howard Jacobson: A sense of tranquillity is the last thing you can expect to find in a Florentine piazza

Published: 06 October 2007

Americans in Huck Finn pants enter the square in robotic reverence to work which is the fruit of greed

Howard Jacobson: The English might be free and easy about sex, but we are still so embarrassed by it

Published: 29 September 2007

Watched the French film Lady Chatterley in an all but empty cinema last Sunday. True, it was an afternoon screening, but even so could there not have been a few more people there? What else was there to do?

Howard Jacobson: Our faith in human nature disappears when the first instinct is to assume the worst

Published: 22 September 2007

I accept that the default position should be to think the best. That's how we operate socially, isn't it?

Howard Jacobson: When I argue on the side of Zionism, it is because it seems intellectually right to do so

Published: 15 September 2007

I take exception, ofcourse, to the idea that a Jew can think and feel only one way about Israe

Howard Jacobson: They sing of love, betrayal, and death far from home. No wonder tenors die young

Published: 08 September 2007

I don’t think it matters if you confuse the singer with the song. Their ruined lives are in the script

Howard Jacobson: There seems to be a pecking order among the dispossessed, and Jews come last

Published: 01 September 2007

Interesting how the world always seems to be thinking what you're thinking, unless it's the other way round. There I was, anyway, coming back from a visit to the Jewish Museum in Berlin, musing about exile and return, and there at the airport newsagents was an article by John Pilger, musing on something similar. Well, not musing exactly. Pilger doesn't muse. But hidden among the noisy disingenuities of his usual drum-beating were assumptions about exile and return that made me wonder. Not wonder as in marvel, but wonder as in mistrust.

Howard Jacobson: A liberal conscience just gets in the way when the injured demand vengeance

Published: 25 August 2007

Another day, another killing. They get younger both ends – the killers and the killed. And we, meanwhile, we the wise ones, tear our hair, caught between calls to meet violence with violence, and calls to hold fast to our liberal ideals.

Howard Jacobson: It takes a Mancunian to combine a deep love of literature with a genius for populism

Published: 18 August 2007

It was an education to talk with Tony Wilson. I never met anyone who wore his learning more lightly

Howard Jacobson: What a splendid summertime treat: strolling through Soho with Caravaggio by your side

Published: 11 August 2007

I love running into a Rubens while nipping out to buy a paper, or having a Holbein to look at while hailing a taxi

Howard Jacobson: If you really want to seek the truth, don't expect to find it in a television documentary

Published: 04 August 2007

Where there's aesthetics there's art, and where there's art there's artifice

Howard Jacobson: We're all so afraid of looking sour that we're nothing more than cultural conformists

Published: 28 July 2007

Wearied by the battle, we join in the applause or turn aside and put our minds to other things

Howard Jacobson: There is a magnificence in lies when they are egregious and managed with aplomb

Published: 21 July 2007

Some people seem to want us to think they are lying even when they are not

Howard Jacobson: Those who boycott Israeli universities are doing intellectual violence - to themselves

Published: 14 July 2007

No longer to listen is no longer to engage in the dialogue of thought. It disqualifies you as a scholar

Howard Jacobson: I will now always be known as the man who took Scrabble to the Diana Concert

Published: 07 July 2007

As it happened I wasn't able to find anyone to play with me, partly because I always win

Howard Jacobson: Not waving but scowling: in praise of Gordon Brown's reign of the repressed

Published: 30 June 2007

The shy, of course, are always stern, for shyness is a species of unforgivingness to the self

Howard Jacobson: Arise Sir Salman, and goodbye Bernard, those two experts at stirring things up

Published: 23 June 2007

It was the charmless relish he took in the incorrectness of his jokes that made them work so well

Howard Jacobson: Thanks to New Labour, we can say goodbye to our civil liberties - and Polish potatoes

Published: 16 June 2007

There is gratuitous intrusion into the minutest details of our lives, down to the nationality of the chips we eat

Howard Jacobson: We'll take Manhattan in style - and this does not mean wearing tracksuits and trainers

Published: 09 June 2007

Whatever your leisure attire, you won't look good in it in the city. No one does, Americans least of all

Howard Jacobson: The state is always wrong and the individual is always right. Don't old habits die hard?

Published: 26 May 2007

The term Kafkaesque answers to a deep anxiety in us about power being wielded cruelly

Howard Jacobson: Forty years ago, not even the prospect of a living hell would make me quit smoking

Published: 19 May 2007

I loved my Stuyvesants, looking forward to the next before I'd sucked the life out of the previous

Howard Jacobson: When a child is stolen, it takes us into the unfathomable heart of human existence

Published: 12 May 2007

It evokes ancient terrors. Not for nothing do fairy stories abound in tales of lost children

Howard Jacobson: So it's not Iraq or Afghanistan that drives terrorists - it's drunk women in nightclubs

Published: 05 May 2007

What emerged in the bomb trial was a hotchpotch of prejudice, ignorance and sexual immaturity

Howard Jacobson: Disappointment awaits those who delve into the so-called mysteries of a writer's life

Published: 28 April 2007

The means by which experience and memory are transmuted into art are unfathomable to him

Howard Jacobson: The Americans will give up their love affair with guns when we do the same with cars

Published: 21 April 2007

In the past six months alone, 840 people were killed or maimed by drivers under 20

Howard Jacobson: Whoever said we are all entitled to express our opinions didn't reckon on the internet

Published: 14 April 2007

Every man is now a commentator, with his own blog, or his own link to a blog, or his response to someone else's blog

Sep	OCT	Dec
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2006	2007	2015

Howard Jacobson

Howard Jacobson: A sense of tranquillity is the last thing you can expect to find in a Florentine piazza

Howard Jacobson: The English might be free and easy about sex, but we are still so embarrassed by it

Howard Jacobson: Our faith in human nature disappears when the first instinct is to assume the worst

Howard Jacobson: When I argue on the side of Zionism, it is because it seems intellectually right to do so

Howard Jacobson: They sing of love, betrayal, and death far from home. No wonder tenors die young

Howard Jacobson: There seems to be a pecking order among the dispossessed, and Jews come last

Howard Jacobson: A liberal conscience just gets in the way when the injured demand vengeance

Howard Jacobson: It takes a Mancunian to combine a deep love of literature with a genius for populism

Howard Jacobson: What a splendid summertime treat: strolling through Soho with Caravaggio by your side

Howard Jacobson: If you really want to seek the truth, don't expect to find it in a television documentary

Howard Jacobson: We're all so afraid of looking sour that we're nothing more than cultural conformists

Howard Jacobson: There is a magnificence in lies when they are egregious and managed with aplomb

Howard Jacobson: Those who boycott Israeli universities are doing intellectual violence - to themselves

Howard Jacobson: I will now always be known as the man who took Scrabble to the Diana Concert

Howard Jacobson: Not waving but scowling: in praise of Gordon Brown's reign of the repressed

Howard Jacobson: Arise Sir Salman, and goodbye Bernard, those two experts at stirring things up

Howard Jacobson: Thanks to New Labour, we can say goodbye to our civil liberties - and Polish potatoes

Howard Jacobson: We'll take Manhattan in style - and this does not mean wearing tracksuits and trainers

Howard Jacobson: The state is always wrong and the individual is always right. Don't old habits die hard?

Howard Jacobson: Forty years ago, not even the prospect of a living hell would make me quit smoking

Howard Jacobson: When a child is stolen, it takes us into the unfathomable heart of human existence

Howard Jacobson: So it's not Iraq or Afghanistan that drives terrorists - it's drunk women in nightclubs

Howard Jacobson: Disappointment awaits those who delve into the so-called mysteries of a writer's life

Howard Jacobson: The Americans will give up their love affair with guns when we do the same with cars

Howard Jacobson: Whoever said we are all entitled to express our opinions didn't reckon on the internet

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