Christina Patterson

Christina Patterson joined The Independent's comment desk as an associate editor and contributor in 2007. Formerly a director of the Poetry Society, a literary programmer at the Royal Festival Hall and deputy literary editor of The Independent, she writes on cultural issues, books, politics and the arts.

Christina Patterson: Laureate kings and queens of the jungle

So, the battle begins. The middle-aged incumbent born with a silver spoon in his mouth is on his way out and the race is on for a successor. The solid, older, conservative guy? We've had that before. The mouthy middle-aged woman? Risky. The mixed-race candidate (African father, white mother)? That would be great, of course, that would be radical, but are we really ready for it?

Recently by Christina Patterson

Christina Patterson: 'Broken societies' and political nightmares

Wednesday, 21 May 2008

In a few years' time, we'll be having sex with robots. When I say "we", I mean, of course, us centaurs, or croco-men or chihua-women, or whatever magnificent melange of mitochondrial DNA our parents picked from the smorgasbord-of-life options on offer at the local branch of Lidl.

Christina Patterson: Patterns in the marble, and a lesson in history

Saturday, 17 May 2008

On Monday, in Damascus, I saw the light. It was bouncing off the gleaming marble tiles of beautiful courtyards, glittering on exquisite medieval mosaics, filtered through the holes in the roof of the old souk and, most dramatically, sparkling on the fountain of the courtyard of the 18th-century caravanserai off the road which the Bible, in a rare stroke of irony, calls (because it isn't) "the road called straight".

Christina Patterson: It's such hard work pursuing sex and power

Saturday, 10 May 2008

In the age of the hard-working family, one man has been working harder than most. He's been driving hundreds of miles every week just to get the food to feed his family. He has worked hard to safeguard their well-being and their health. He has showered them with presents: cuddly toys, books, videos, flowers. In times of emergency, he has provided medical care. And all in quite challenging circumstances.

Christina Patterson: The discreet charm of the new politicos

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

"My dear, they looked too extraordinary. They had been having one of their ridiculous club dinners and they were all wearing coloured tail-coats – a sort of livery. 'My dears,' I said to them, 'you look like a lot of most disorderly footmen.'"

Christina Patterson: Why the Chinese have reason to feel pride

Saturday, 3 May 2008

Last week in Tiananmen Square, I was moved to tears. It was not, I'm afraid, the thought of the thousand or so protesters massacred there 19 years ago that had me wiping away the tiny droplet of salt water unexpectedly trickling down my nose. It was the sight of thousands of people standing in silence to watch the lowering of their national flag.

Christina Patterson: All hail the Messiah – and the politicians

Wednesday, 30 April 2008

A few days ago, I had a letter from a new friend. "Dear Christina," it said, "I know we have never met, yet I feel you and I have a special bond – we can communicate on a 'higher level' than the physical sense." Very sweetly, my new friend was offering to say some special prayers for me at Lourdes. Did I have an urgent need for money? A desire for romance? Or perhaps for a prayer to counter a curse?

Christina Patterson: Jane Austen and the sexual smorgasbord

Saturday, 19 April 2008

She flirts remorselessly. She wakes up with a hangover. She wisecracks with her women friends about the myriad failings of the pitiful male specimens she surveys. Sex and the City's Samantha? Carrie? Miranda? No, Jane Austen, of course.

Christina Patterson: The dark heart of British democracy

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

It's easily done. You're in a lift with your colleagues and then someone from the canteen or the kitchen gets in and suddenly you can't finish the conversation you're having, and you can't say anything to them, obviously, and so you just happen to mention to your colleagues that cleaners and catering staff shouldn't be allowed to come in that particular lift and then, well, the woman gets all uppity. Chases you down the corridor, actually, and claims to be an MP. How were you meant to know?

Christina Patterson: Beauty... a commodity ripe for taxation

Saturday, 12 April 2008

Yes, Gordon did mess up the Budget. Not a great idea, perhaps, to double the tax paid by the lowest earners in the country (though strangely unnoticed by the press and crusading class-warrior Cameron at the time). A shame, too, to squeeze a mere 30 grand (that's 30 of Samantha Cameron's Nancy handbags) out of that new breed of migrant workers whose idea of a bit of light shopping is a football club in the morning and a mansion in Belgravia in the afternoon.

Christina Patterson: Making the most of motherhood

Wednesday, 9 April 2008

Yes, it's shameless. Get the kid out of the house (safely round the corner with someone you know), announce their disappearance and watch the money roll in. In fact, it's Shameless – the nation's favourite dysfunctional family after the Royals (and, indeed, the Royles).

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