Ian Robinson (2) (1944–)

Not an easy read but his style and witticisms made me laugh out loud every other page. First published in 1973 and still in print, his examples on the deterioration of The Times and the Beeb are dated but only to the extent that use of language by both offenders had continued to deteriorate since then.
Robinson's thesis is - sharply paraphrased - 'we are what we say, what we hear, what we read and what we write' and that as our language itself deteriorates so does our ability to understand show more ourselves and the world about us. There's a good deal of truth in this, witness the disaster of the twittersphere and the general trend against any attempts to argue a case, substituted - in Parliament as in much of the media - by bland, simplistic and repetitive statements and slogans.
Worst of all - and only glimpsed at a distance by Robinson - is the sad lapse of our universities into the environment of 'trigger warnings' ,, unsayable opinions and anything that might upset either the student or the professor. show less

The British literary scholar takes on the cultural and moral shallowness of contemporary England as reflected in the decay (and general sloppiness) of the English language he loves. His treatment of current British fiction writers as formulaic in their dreariness (matched only by their lack of sympathy for their own characters), is hysterical. For hardcore readers only.