Christina Patterson
Christina Patterson joined The Independent in 2003 as deputy literary editor and is now a full-time writer and columnist. A former director of the Poetry Society, and literary programmer at the Southbank Centre, she writes on culture, politics, books, travel and the arts and does the weekly "big interview" for the Arts & Books section. Interviewees have included Martin Amis, Alastair Campbell, Werner Herzog, David Starkey and Bryn Terfel.
Christina Patterson: There's nothing like the kindness of strangers
They are a kind of liberation – they can set you free to be anything you want
Recently by Christina Patterson
Christina Patterson: Is this what they mean by care in the NHS?
Saturday, 5 December 2009
How complicated can it be for a breast-care nurse to master the procedures of a clinic?
Christina Patterson: Forgiveness? All very nice, but rather overrated
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Sometimes, as John Lydon sang, in his post Sex Pistols band, ‘anger is an energy
Christina Patterson: Let the men eat cake (and have a chat)
Thursday, 26 November 2009
One of the exhausting things about being a woman is that there's no brief answer to that social stalwart: "How are you?" In the workplace, maybe. In the street, maybe. Even at a party, maybe, but only if you don't know the person asking you well. But with a friend? With any, in fact, of your 20 close friends? Not a chance. There's no way out. Over a glass or 10 of chardonnay, or a slice or 10 of chocolate cake, you'll have to start from the beginning and work your way grimly through to the end.
What we can learn from the Sikh in the BNP
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Christina Patterson: For ethnic harmony, you can go the route of a Tito or a Saddam Hussein
Christina Patterson: Didn't we have a lovely time the day we went to Basra
Saturday, 14 November 2009
We can visit foreign countries - and discover that who we elect really matters
Christina Patterson: Why it's hard to be a blonde in the City
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Two tales of the City. In the first, an attractive blonde meets a City financier, and is very, very cross because she is treated like "an Eastern European mail-order bride". In the second, an attractive blonde meets a City financier and is very, very cross because, she says, he tried to kiss her, even though he doesn't fancy blondes. Dearie me. It's hard to be a blonde in the City.
Christina Patterson: Why negative thinking makes the world better
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Who started the Iraq war? A man who picked out a rug to reflect his 'optimism'
Christina Patterson: My boss is discriminating against me
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Newspaper offices waste quite a lot of paper. So, in fact, do newspapers, as yesterday's splendid pine tree becomes (depending on your point of view) today's finely crafted chronicle of our times, or semi-literate showbiz goss, and tomorrow's guinea-pig toilet.
Christina Patterson: Why we can't resist a little dice with death
Saturday, 31 October 2009
They need a ‘gap year’ because they’ve barely been allowed past their front door
Why politics isn't just a game for the boys
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Christina Patterson: We’ve seen what happens when a gung-ho, risk-ridden male culture prevails.
Columnist Comments
• Dominic Lawson: The Pope is vilified, Polanski indulged
I had always imagined that it was people who raped children, not organisations.
• Steve Richards: Something had to give – and it has
Brown now knows that all the cards are up in the air once more
• Terence Blacker: Pause to reconsider our lives
Emitting a mighty belch, nature has grounded us - in the form of a volcano
Most popular in Opinion
Read
1 The Tuesday Essay: Brought down to earth
2 Dominic Lawson: The Pope is vilified, Polanski indulged
3 Steve Richards: Something had to give – and it has
4 Ben Chu: Revolving-door culture leaves government full of clever bankers
5 Leading article: Precautionary principle
6 Terence Blacker: Pause to reconsider our lives
7 Leading article: This yellow surge is good for democracy
8 Robert Fisk: Hizbollah's silence over Scuds speaks volumes to Israel
9 Robert Fisk’s World: 'I listen as a lost people tell of their woes in a kind of trance'
10 Simon Carr: Zac's like an amateur but it's usually the professionals that win
Emailed
1 The Tuesday Essay: Brought down to earth
2 Dominic Lawson: The Pope is vilified, Polanski indulged
3 Steve Richards: Something had to give – and it has
4 What a gentile can learn from a Jewish joke
5 Leading article: Goldman Sachs will live to fight another day
6 Terence Blacker: Pause to reconsider our lives
7 Richard Sharpe: Let common sense guide you in the saga of bisphenol A
8 Ben Chu: Revolving-door culture leaves government full of clever bankers
9 Robert Verkaik: The law is catching up with those who use the internet to defame
Commented
1UK's 'virtual water' reliance worsens global shortages
2Ash cloud flight ban extended to Tuesday
3Gordon Brown warns of Tory 'risk' to recovery
4Clegg's popularity soars on two fronts
5Cameron calls for decisive Tory win to block Brown
6Mandelson's Dunkirk: Business Secretary announces rescue plans for thousands stranded in air crisis
7Liberal surge is biggest shock to electoral landscape for years
8Bruce Anderson: Don't be taken in by Clegg's 'niceness'
9Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Is there any way that some 'outsiders' might get a look-in?