by Peter Scotchmer | Essays
This is the second essay by Peter on the intricacies of the English language. Here, he writes on where inspiration comes from, and why no amount of effort can quite summon it. My first piece in the English language series talked about the quality of writing that...
by Peter Scotchmer | Essays
Starting in April 2026, The Ironist is starting a running monthly series of articles on the English language written by our very own contributor Peter Scotchmer, a retired English teacher. Polonius: ‘What is the matter you read, my lord?’ Hamlet: ‘Words, words,...
by Peter Scotchmer | Essays
Peter Scotchmer writes about the enduring lure of utopia and why humanity’s attempts to build perfect societies so often end in dystopia. I will not walk with your progressive apes, Erect and sapient. Before them gapes The dark abyss to which their progress...
by Nigel Scotchmer | Essays
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer in possession of a finished piece must be in want of a community. How many of us have agonized over our drafts restlessly and endlessly, wondering who to read it to and what to do with it? We, at the Irony Club,...
by Kachingo Sondo | Essays
Kachingo Sondo is a corresponding freelancer originally from a village outside of Garampande, near Livingstone, Zambia. Zambian village, by Tom Chiponge, Pixaby Call me Phiri. I drive a taxi in Lusaka. That is, when I have money, I rent a taxi to try and make more...
