The Latest Breaking News from Jonathan Swift

Washington reflecting pool saga is just the latest example of man trying to dominate nature – and losing

US President Donald Trump’s “restoration” of the reflecting pool that stretches between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument has been dogged by questions over cost and now by the president’s claims it has been vandalised.

The Conversation · Jun 26

The Twitnam Summer by Hester Grant review – Swift, Gay and Pope’s season in the sun

A historian makes the case that a meeting of minds in 1726 changed the course of English literature

The Guardian - UK · Jun 12

Savage House’s filth and farce are closer to the real bawdiness of the 18th century

Although critics have praised the performances in Savage House, the film itself has received a frosty reception.

The Conversation · Jun 10

Arborescence by Rhett Davis review – why would people turn into trees?

This quietly satirical speculative novel tells a story of metamorphosis, but feels insulated from real ecological crisis

The Guardian - UK · Jan 6

Jane Austen was a satirist – why isn’t she treated like one?

From the pompous vanity of Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion (1817), to the shallow reading habits of Isabella in Northanger Abbey (1817), few characters in the works of Jane Austen are spared the gentle satire of her famously ironic narrative voice. Similarly, some of her best remembered characters, like Elizabeth…

The Conversation · Aug 4, 2025

Alan Strachan obituary

Director in the West End and regional theatre for five decades who often worked with the playwright Alan Ayckbourn

The Guardian - UK · Jun 18, 2025

Many life-saving drugs fail for lack of funding. But there’s a solution: desperate rich people

Each year, hundreds of potentially world-changing treatments are discarded because scientists run out of cash. But where big pharma or altruists fear to tread, my friend and I have a solution. It’s repugnant, but it will work

The Guardian - UK · Mar 11, 2025

Trolling feels like a new phenomenon. But it existed long before the internet

Trolling on the internet looks and feels like a new phenomenon. Abuse can rain down on a target instantly and from everywhere, in quantities never before seen. But as David Rudrum’s engaging book on the history of trolling shows, the desire to hurt or distract another with words goes back…

The Conversation · Feb 19, 2025

Poem of the week: The Day of Judgement by Jonathan Swift

The stinging wit of the great satirist is at its scalding best in this nightmarish fantasy of the end of days

The Guardian - UK · Jan 20, 2025

Teaching Digital Citizenship and Literacy to Families and the School Community

By prioritizing digital citizenship and literacy, we can prepare our students and their families to navigate the digital world responsibly and safely.

Tech&Learning · Sep 9, 2024