Tim Dowling



Profile:
Full name: Tim Dowling

Area of interest: Contemporary culture and issues

Journals/Organisation: The Guardian

Email: [mailto:tim.dowling@guardian.co.uk tim.dowling@guardian.co.uk]

Personal website:

Website: Guardian.co / Tim Dowling

Blogs: Comment is free...; the-blog-art-&-architecture

Representation: AP Watt

Networks:



Biography:
About:

Education: Brien McMahon High School; Middlebury College, US

Career: Written for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Independent on Sunday, The Guardian, the Spectator, GQ and other magazines

Current position/role: Journalist and author


 * also writes/has written for:

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Scoops:

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Books & Debate:

 * Inventor of the disposable culture: King Camp Gillette, 1855-1932 OCLC 46393787, 2001
 * Not the Archer Prison Diary OCLC 50999806, 2002
 * The Giles Wareing Haters' Club OCLC 78988893, 2007

Latest work: Suspicious Packages and Extendable Arms OCLC 233997034, 2007

Speaking/Appearances:

Debate: 

The Guardian:
Column name:

Remit/Info: Contemporary culture and issues

Section:

Role: Columnist

Pen-name:

Email: [mailto:tim.dowling@guardian.co.uk tim.dowling@guardian.co.uk]

Website: Guardian.co / Tim Dowling | Tim Dowling's Weekend Column

Commissioning editor:

Day published: Saturday

Regularity: Weekly

Column format:

Average length:


 * also contributes to food&drink, shortcuts and family&relationships



Articles: 2017

 * Come on, this is Britain – we don’t like to be too happy - The country came 19th in the new World Happiness Report. That’s about right. Any higher and we might have been embarrassed - 22nd March
 * Is Brexit really to blame for the decline in plastic surgery? - It’s been suggested that people are cancelling their nose job because of our departure from the EU. My money’s on the cheap availability of Botox - 15th February
 * At last, here are ‘White House’ tweets that offer hope - The account @RoguePOTUSStaff purports to be leaking information about Donald Trump. Authentic or not, its sorrowful tone gives it a ring of truth - 2nd February
 * Last year is history, 2017 hasn’t got going yet. Can I stay here please? - With all the calamities behind us and our fear of things to come, right now feels like a period of sanctuary. Make the most of it - 4th January



Articles: 2016

 * If you see a killer clown, don’t run - My sighting of a masked man proved less than scary. But we should spare a thought for real clowns trying to get to work - 12th October
 * Racist bar brawl? Let me write a review - A family’s trip to the pub landed them in court after a bouncer was racially abused. But the mother’s TripAdvisor review still appears online - 29th September
 * Order force: the old grammar rule we all obey without realising - I had no idea there was a specific order for adjectives until I read a viral post. It was a side-of-the-mallet moment - 14th September
 * The day I retrieved my face from behind my beard - After five bearded years, I discovered I wasn’t as handsome as I remembered – but at least the top and bottom halves of my face still matched
 * Yes, Bear Grylls can make fire. But could he survive in the kitchen? - Our ideas of what manhood should be are still based on bushcraft. It’s time we developed a notion of masculinity for the modern world - 27th April
 * Hillary Clinton is 68 – and that makes her the young one - The Democratic frontrunner suffered ageist attacks in the early part of her presidential run, but her main rivals are even older than she is - 21st April
 * Britain, prepare to be love-bombed by Europe - They can’t vote, but they will #hugabrit: it’s the campaign with a continental touch that could really break down British reserves of Brexit - 7th April
 * I’m 52 and I feel OK. What’s wrong with me? - According to the Office for National Statistics I should be at the nadir of the long, middle-age valley of despair. Maybe I’m just a late starter - 3rd February



Articles: 2015

 * Did Bake Off save the world? - The eBible Fellowship said the world would end on 7 October – but that would have clashed with the grand final - 8th October
 * My son’s new role: Labour witchfinder general - In enlisting my 17-year-old to ascertain the political allegiances of two boys at his school, the party may have hit upon a way to make politics appeal to young people - 27th August
 * I defeated North Korea … I watched The Interview! - Freedom means the right to watch as many lame films as I want, and that’s the most American thing I’ve ever done - 28th January
 * News from Fox, and the no-go zone of the brain - Steven Emerson's 'Muslim-only' Birmingham comments provoked mirth. But what about his Googling of France? - 14th January



Articles: 2013

 * How to spot a swivel-eyed loon - A beginner's guide to this increasingly vocal species - 22nd May



Articles: 2012

 * Why David Cameron's war on dithering must be stopped - The prime minister has declared that 'dither' is holding the country back. Nonsense – it's an essential coping strategy and we need more of it, not less - 3rd September
 * It's time to get creative to wean Britain off the booze - Critics say a minimum alcohol price may not curb binge drinking, so it's time for something drastic ... knitting - 24th March
 * This Wikipedia blackout leaves my brain shorn of its extensions - Blue Monday was as nothing next to Wikipedia-free Wednesday, which I will spend wondering what this Sopa business is all about and leaving rooms muttering, 'It's complicated' - 18th January



Articles: 2011

 * noble art of the obsessive hobby'' - Trying to split an atom in your kitchen is rather extreme, but great things may come from strange and private passions - 10th August
 * Obama keeps his eye on the ball'' - It's hard not to look silly playing ping pong with an expression of grim resolve, yet Obama manages to make even this look cool - 26th May



Articles: 2010

 * strike: Churchill, geese and a whiff of desperation'' - How long it took to figure out the Today programme wasn't on rather depended on whether you're a morning person or not - 6th November
 * TV still has the power to shock'' - I thought nothing could surprise me, but an advert caused me to lose my cool - 1st August
 * used to hold back the tears. Now I cry all the time'' - But I cry at school leaving dos and watching films – never in moments of genuine grief - 26th July
 * you rent a friend?'' - Feeling lonely? Don't have anyone to go to the pub with? Then a friend rental service could be just the thing you need - 20th July
 * camping is so tough, why do we like it so much?'' - It's hard work, cold, filthy – and you have to sing songs. G2 pitched tents to try to understand the ever growing appeal of camping - 9th July
 * day as a dangerous-dog owner'' - Dangerous dogs are big news right now. But never mind all that stuff about microchips: what's it like to walk one? Tim Dowling finds out - 11th March
 * too busy staring into space for leisure'' - So British men have 32 more minutes of leisure time a day than women do – I'd better ask the dog what to do with it - 10th March



Articles: 2009

 * writing about my children, I have a sophisticated code of ethics'' - From time to time I get the balance wrong, to the extent that it upsets my wife, and for that I am sorry - 14th March
 * This episode is emblematic of our familial disregard for food - My son and I are lying on a couch apiece, watching the penultimate instalment of the MasterChef final - 7th March
 * I feel guilty about drinking their coffee ... but I drink it anyway - The kitchen is padlocked shut. "Something bad happened in there," says the woman from reception - 28th February
 * Let the thieves have my laptop, and work, and bank details. I'm free - It is a freezing February morning in Brussels-Midi train station - 21st February
 * For me, the film of The Ice Storm was like watching a home movie - My wife and I are on a date - dinner, followed by a film - 14th February
 * It strikes me as odd that someone would tie up a dog outside a park - In the light it looks much bigger. It also appears to be pregnant. And it smells - 31st January
 * I'm pleased for once to say the sort of thing to my wife that she usually says to me'' - Once, when I wished that some cataclysmic event would arise so I wouldn't have to write a stupid article about bananas, it worked - 24th January
 * I wonder if you can pass a drum examination after something like that happens - After a classic groove known as Grade 2 Rudimental Study, my son must play his chosen piece, Rock Changes - 17th January
 * I file though a mental list of things I have forgotten to worry about - People walking the streets at four o'clock in the morning are, almost by definition, very angry with someone - 10th January
 * If you told me I was spending £8,000 a year on cat food, I would believe you - My attempt at an inventory for 2008 has been thwarted by poor record-keeping and limited mathematical skills - 3rd January



Articles: 2008

 * My advice is so speculative that I shouldn't be giving it at all, so I stop there - My wife and I are both suffering from Festive Stress - 27th December 2008
 * It's as if some chip in my brain has been yanked out and put back in the right way round - It is rare that my wife and I both have a full day off on the same day, and it's not something we would ever plan - 20th December 2008
 * I sift through both computers, to gain insight into my children's internet habits - My children are permitted to use my computer under circumstances that number precisely zero - 6th December 2008
 * Facebook is just another arena of social obligation in which I disappoint - It began at precisely 11.27am on July 16 2007. A friend rang me up. 'Why aren't you on Facebook?' she said - 29th November 2008
 * I deliver a tirade against shiftlessness before sending the children out to get milk - After lunch I fall asleep for 20 minutes but wake to deliver a monologue about discarded pyjamas - 22nd November 2008
 * I have known my wife for many years, and the children are right to be afraid - My wife feels that her salad is, in some vague way, sub-prime - 15th November 2008
 * I may have overplayed the significance of the opening of a bunch of shops - My children can now nip out and get me some Louis Vuitton luggage - 8th November 2008
 * I can't recall being apprised of any plan, but know better than to say so - I've spent all day watching market indices sketch pictures of cliffs dropping precipitously toward rolling seas - 1st November 2008
 * I have bloated monologues with the dog about people trying to undermine me - With autumn now well underway, I again find myself trapped alone in the house with, if not by, animals - 25th October 2008
 * No one said this was going to be easy. A happy marriage requires hard work - During the third hug of the day, my wife fails to suppress a shudder of revulsion - 18th October 2008
 * A life coach might disagree, but staying in and avoiding people works for me - 'Stay in the house and avoid talking to people' is a plan that works for me - 11th October 2008
 * I must be more circumspect about the identities of those who appear in this column - My life partner - we'll call him Sean - arrives home with our three adopted ex-research chimps - 27th September 2008
 * A small part of me has been hoping that the end of the world will start today - I am listening to Radio 4 when it starts broadcasting from the historic launch of the Large Hadron Collider at Cern - 20th September 2008
 * I find my wife's knowledge of american drug dealer slang alarming - I may end up being the very last person to get to grips with The Wire - 13th September 2008
 * How long do you have to be married before you see reading a book as an aggressive act? - 'He began to nod slowly, the way he does whenever he gets an idea for a column' - 6th September 2008
 * It's difficult to kick someone's ass when you're on different boats - I am in America, in my brother's boat, with my brother and two of my children - 30th August 2008
 * Whatever organisational skills we possess desert us when we get together - I am sitting watching the water polo with my three sons and my two sisters, while the sun shines outside - 23rd August 2008
 * I don't write to upset my family. I do it to trick strangers into liking me - It's the second week of our holiday in Cornwall, and the rain has never really let up - 16th August 2008
 * There's something about bad weather on holiday that turns my wife into Mary Poppins - I like working on holiday because it makes me feel important - 9th August 2008
 * I don't like this ... the person who is not driving has to do everything the driver asks - I am obliged to read signs and distribute sweets, and discipline the children when they start fighting - 2nd August 2008
 * It is my wife's unwillingness to share in my misfortune that troubles me most - Ever since my wife opened her bookshop, I have detected a steady decline in her interest in all aspects of my life - 26th July 2008
 * I seem to remember winning the fathers' race one year. But I may have dreamed it - I arrive at sports day too early to miss the fathers' race, and too late to be able to leave before the fathers' race - 19th July 2008
 * The children are adapting well to the post-cat era. Maybe I should move on, too - Tim Dowling encounters the public as the cat-hunt continues, and wonders whether James has found a better life - 12th July 2008
 * The cat's disappearance is a cruel interruption of our two-year staring contest - On the way into the park, I pass a flapping, laminated sign of unbearable poignancy - 5th July 2008
 * I guess it's the story of puberty told using tastefully animated pastel drawings - Tim Dowling on getting to grips with the facts of life and the dangers of concealing Gogos inside a tennis ball - 28th June 2008
 * If you try to fix stuff, you usually end up making things much worse - We had the same au pair, Kate, for 10 years, which is longer than we've had one of our children - 21st June 2008
 * I have always been cowed by authority and immediately feel guilty in its presence - Tim Dowling gets pulled over by police - 14th June 2008
 * Innuendo: did she give him one too many? - If the pun is the lowest form of humour, the double entendre is the most relentless - 12th June 2008
 * I've got until I'm 78 to worry about what musings on death I'll commit to shellac - 7th June 2008
 * It is my wife's life purpose to drain my self-esteem at every opportunity - 31st May 2008
 * Land of the Frei - Matt Frei is wrong. Iowa's state motto isn't First In Hogs. And if I had to list the US states I've driven through and hated, it wouldn't be top - 28th May 2008
 * What will it take to make Hillary stop? - 22nd May 2008
 * The other six candidates taking the fight to Ken and Boris - 29th April 2008
 * Why the super-rich aren't feeling the credit crunch - 22nd April 2008
 * What stiff upper lip? - This week JK Rowling told a New York court that it's not British to cry in public. Rubbish - and there's nothing wrong with having a good blub anyway - 16th April 2008
 * Is 'text speak' really shaping baby names? - 1st April 2008
 * No more Maddy, no more Diana - what now for the Express? - 20th March 2008
 * Google Earth: the one-stop shop for all your protesting needs - 4th March 2008
 * Are you an active citizen? - 24th January 2008
 * Should we be eating insects? - 17th January 2008
 * John Simpson: a master of disguise - ...on going undercover - 16th January 2008



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