Alan Moir: Moir’s World

THE Irish poet Louis MacNeice wrote in one of his best known poems, “World is crazier and more of it than we think, incorrigibly plural.” The poem is called Snow. It consists of three verses totalling twelve lines. I know very little about poetry but I know what I like, and I like Snow. I

I KNOW that it’s a holiday because the rush hour has been transformed into the rush 20 minutes. It hasn’t escaped my attention that the seasonally themed aisle in the supermarket is shelf-to-shelf chocolate eggs. It doesn’t take a genius to conclude it isn’t the Festival of Sprouts. Besides my brother and sisters have birthdays

LAST week I tried buying non-alcoholic beer before 10am on a Saturday. For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever this comes in a bottle like beer does, tastes (quite remarkably) like beer but has no, and I mean no, zero, nada alcohol content. In terms of alcohol it might as well be peanuts. I’m not

Alan Moir shares his views of Valetine’s Day – international day of red heart cards and bad poetry.

You may have heard of the recent scientific discovery of neutrinos which travel faster than the speed of light

I HAD my six-weekly haircut this week. These days my definition of a good haircut is that it take less than a minute for my hair to dry after a shower. On my way out I was looking to book an appointment in a few weeks time and there was a cancellation available on 24

Talk this past weekend in the Moir household has been on a high intellectual plane indeed. In an attempt to de-clutter we have been flicking through all the art that has been gathering dust under beds, and behind sofas and cupboards and allocating it to the categories of wall (keep and display), bin or store

YOU might have heard Twinings the speciality tea-makers landed themselves in a spot of bother recently. They mucked about with the recipe for Earl Grey tea and boy did the people revolt. Inevitably a Facebook campaign was launched and ultimately people-power prevailed, or the profit motive if you prefer, with Twinings reinstating the original blend.

IT’S often said that there are only seven basic plotlines in all of literature. There must be academics in literature and drama departments the world over who endlessly debate whether there are indeed seven types of story or six or eight or fifty. Whole research careers will have been built on this, I have no

IT is Sunday afternoon and I am considering a list of the things I have to do

What a few weeks it’s been. At least two people have got married, we’ve had an election and we’ve had a referendum. On the royal wedding front the highlight for me was the TV host who introduced a uniquely qualified guest with the unforgettable: “And we’re joined on the sofa by the man responsible for

THOMAS Kuhn, noted historian and philosopher of science, was the first person to coin the term “paradigm shift”. In his 1962 book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he argued that scientific progress is not a smooth procession of accumulating knowledge. He thought it was characterised by long periods of tinkering with mainstream thought punctuated by

AN event from my childhood; climbing up the stairs in my house I met an elderly relative on their way down.  I think I was about six or seven at the time and at that age you don’t assume any responsibility for casual chitchat.  Casting about for something to say she skipped over, “How’s school?”

FILM credits are rolling a list of jobs and information on who did what to bring the action to a screen near you. Have you ever read them? What is a “key grip” when it’s at home? Are there universities and colleges out there offering gripping degrees? Just about everyone with the most tangential involvement

I THINK the first Christmas advert I saw this year was in October. Soon the run up to the festive season will be greeted by Valentine’s cards in the shops. Google the meaning of Christmas and you’ll discover Christian websites that say the whole bally consumer howdeedooda, and great swathes of the traditions from holly