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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Claiming disability benefit? Don’t ever dare shake hands | Claiming disability benefit? Don’t ever dare shake hands |
| (about 1 month later) | |
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| Wed 13 Dec 2017 18.26 GMT | |
| Last modified on Fri 15 Dec 2017 13.52 GMT | |
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| Do you shake hands? I do – with people I’m meeting for the first time, and often meeting up with people I already know really well. But the classic handshake is now not the single accepted greeting, and even with strangers you must awkwardly negotiate the possibility of the kiss on one or both cheeks, or bro shake with optional shoulder bump. | Do you shake hands? I do – with people I’m meeting for the first time, and often meeting up with people I already know really well. But the classic handshake is now not the single accepted greeting, and even with strangers you must awkwardly negotiate the possibility of the kiss on one or both cheeks, or bro shake with optional shoulder bump. |
| But I’ve been trained to think of the unhesitating handshake as simple good manners. The same, I suspect, is true of former pub landlady Bethen Thorpe from north London, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in October 2014. She had to apply for disability benefit, filled in a 35-page application form, and then travelled to Chelmsford, Essex, for an assessment meeting. She was turned down partly because she shook the DWP assessor’s hand, which was taken as evidence of her fitness for work. | But I’ve been trained to think of the unhesitating handshake as simple good manners. The same, I suspect, is true of former pub landlady Bethen Thorpe from north London, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in October 2014. She had to apply for disability benefit, filled in a 35-page application form, and then travelled to Chelmsford, Essex, for an assessment meeting. She was turned down partly because she shook the DWP assessor’s hand, which was taken as evidence of her fitness for work. |
| The handshake, that historic gesture of good faith, was turned against her. Since then, Thorpe has had the handshake-dismissal overturned on appeal. But what lessons are to be drawn? Only this. If you’re disabled and meeting your DWP assessor for the first time – or any time – just offer up your cheek for a delicate, feather-light kiss. | The handshake, that historic gesture of good faith, was turned against her. Since then, Thorpe has had the handshake-dismissal overturned on appeal. But what lessons are to be drawn? Only this. If you’re disabled and meeting your DWP assessor for the first time – or any time – just offer up your cheek for a delicate, feather-light kiss. |
| Cat persona non grata | Cat persona non grata |
| I have now reread it so often I can just recite, word for word, Cat Person, the short story in the New Yorker from Kristen Roupenian, which went viral this week. In fact, there has been a bit of a hipster ownership rush, so I should make it clear to lesser fans that I am one of that revered elite whose tweets praising it were “liked” by the author’s mother. | I have now reread it so often I can just recite, word for word, Cat Person, the short story in the New Yorker from Kristen Roupenian, which went viral this week. In fact, there has been a bit of a hipster ownership rush, so I should make it clear to lesser fans that I am one of that revered elite whose tweets praising it were “liked” by the author’s mother. |
| Cat Person tells the story of a catastrophic relationship from the woman’s viewpoint, and in the Guardian yesterday Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett analysed the sexual politics involved in how it has been received. | Cat Person tells the story of a catastrophic relationship from the woman’s viewpoint, and in the Guardian yesterday Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett analysed the sexual politics involved in how it has been received. |
| A 20-year-old college student begins a relationship with a 34-year-old man based on hardly more than flirtatious texts, on which both base misleading ideas of what the other is like. There has been a backlash from shrill and insecure men who claim the story is unfair to our fragile gender. And now, incredibly, BBC Three has published on its website a shamingly unfunny “retelling” of the story from the man’s point of view. | A 20-year-old college student begins a relationship with a 34-year-old man based on hardly more than flirtatious texts, on which both base misleading ideas of what the other is like. There has been a backlash from shrill and insecure men who claim the story is unfair to our fragile gender. And now, incredibly, BBC Three has published on its website a shamingly unfunny “retelling” of the story from the man’s point of view. |
| The problem with this isn’t anything to do with a debate about “balance” and whether that should be extended to fiction. It’s simply the fact that it is horribly embarrassing and misjudged. BBC Three, which could itself be promoting short fiction, has hit a deafening false note, and probably deserves a gold statuette of Rupert Murdoch for undermining the licence fee. | The problem with this isn’t anything to do with a debate about “balance” and whether that should be extended to fiction. It’s simply the fact that it is horribly embarrassing and misjudged. BBC Three, which could itself be promoting short fiction, has hit a deafening false note, and probably deserves a gold statuette of Rupert Murdoch for undermining the licence fee. |
| Bragging rights | Bragging rights |
| Connoisseurs of the humblebrag will have noticed my attempts at the beginning of the previous item, and it is a genre that continues to flourish in various forms. | Connoisseurs of the humblebrag will have noticed my attempts at the beginning of the previous item, and it is a genre that continues to flourish in various forms. |
| I have already written about the social media thankbrag (“Thanks to everyone who came to my sellout event last night”). But with the hip-hop musical Hamilton previewing now and opening in Britain next week, we will probably see the end of the Hamiltonbrag. | I have already written about the social media thankbrag (“Thanks to everyone who came to my sellout event last night”). But with the hip-hop musical Hamilton previewing now and opening in Britain next week, we will probably see the end of the Hamiltonbrag. |
| This is what happens when pundits in this country find a pretext for writing about the phenomenon that is Hamilton, and after a paragraph or so casually drop the fact that they have been to see it, and getting the ticket was such a bit of good luck, but nonetheless shyly allowing us to notice how jetsettingly transatlantic and well-connected they are. When the show opens here, this much-cherished form of artless self-congratulation will gradually die out. | This is what happens when pundits in this country find a pretext for writing about the phenomenon that is Hamilton, and after a paragraph or so casually drop the fact that they have been to see it, and getting the ticket was such a bit of good luck, but nonetheless shyly allowing us to notice how jetsettingly transatlantic and well-connected they are. When the show opens here, this much-cherished form of artless self-congratulation will gradually die out. |
| • This article was amended on 15 December 2017 to clarify the account of Bethen Thorpe’s DWP assessment. | • This article was amended on 15 December 2017 to clarify the account of Bethen Thorpe’s DWP assessment. |
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