The great joy of the last few years, and especially with new resources at the Beast, has been building a team to keep the Dish al dente without my having to retire at some point to an infirmary. Readers know better now how critical Patrick, Chris and Zoe are to the Dish's breadth and depth, but our two new interns, Zack Beauchamp and Maisie Allison have also taken to the work like minnows to a stream. But I'd like to thank my old friends, and gay "conservatives" Bruce Bawer and Jon Rauch for helping out and also assailing my own positions. The elan of Jon's attack on bloggery was a brilliant piece of self-refutation. Bruce's defense of his vigilance against the darker currents of Islamism took on all comers the way a blogger should. And Alex kept you up to date on Murdochgate in a manner as deft as anyone on Fleet Street. Deepest thanks to them all.
It has been a refreshing, exhausting, entertaining fortnight of nostalgia, old friends, close family and just walking through the Sussex countryside and the streets of London. And I'm staying an extra week to cover l'affaire de Wapping. So stay tuned.
The Dish 