Robert Sharp

Barrister

Category: Diary (Page 123 of 301)

Things that happen to me, or things I do

Pink is for Girls?

13 February 2012 / / 1 Comment

We all buy in to the Blue-is-for-Boys, Pink-is-for-Girls myth, even though we know its bullshit. Here I bookmark some notes on The Wearing Of Pink.
First: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? After the war, according to J.B. Paoletti, a historian:

In 1927, Time magazine printed a chart showing sex-appropriate colors for girls and boys according to leading U.S. stores. In Boston, Filene’s told parents to dress boys in pink. So did Best & Co. in New York City, Halle’s in Cleveland and Marshall Field in Chicago.
Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. “It could have gone the other way,” Paoletti says.

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Me, Interviewed in The Bookseller

12 February 2012 / / 1 Comment

Wow. First a specialist radio programme, now a specialist magazine. I am All Over the specialist media this weekend.
I was interviewed in The Bookseller for a feature on English PEN. The article doesn’t seem to be online yet but you can read the article in all its printed glory below. Eagle eyed readers will note that three of the pictures are by yrstrly, too. As with the radio interview, I share the limelight with a colleague: this time, Writers in Prison Programme Manager Cat Lucas.
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Me, Interviewed on Word Salad

11 February 2012 / / 2 Comments

Last week, I was interviewed by Peter Spafford for East Leeds FM. He asked about the work of English PEN and the free speech campaigns we are running.
You can listen to the interview here. My five minutes of fame comes at exactly 61 minutes into the show. There’s a funny point in my monologue where Peter takes a breath to ask another question, but I carry on talking. I should learn to speak in shorter sentences.
Later in the same show, my English PEN colleague Irene Garrow talks about her experience as a writer-in-residence in the prison system, and the reading and writing workshops she organizes with prisoners.  Her slot starts at about 105 minutes.

Bankers Bonuses and the Rule of Law

8 February 2012 / / 1 Comment

I am sure I have made this point somewhere before on this blog, but a quick search through my archives doesn’t reveal it, so… 
All this business about bankers and CEO bonuses makes me uneasy. The pattern is now very familiar: it transpires that some despised ‘fat cat’ – a banker or the head of a quango, say – is due to be given a huge bonus on top of their already huge monthy remuneration. Outrage ensues. The aforementioned ‘fat cat’ is chased by the press and slandered by politicians and interest groups. The ‘Fat cat’ eventually issues a statement saying he will give back the money.
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