A collection of writings by novelist and playwright Michael Frayn, which are based on his column in the Guardian, covering the pomposities and inanities of public announcements, fashionable conversations and self-advertising of all kinds. From News at Ten on Hamlet to an extra chapter in the Book of Genesis describing the week after creation; from airline stewards' briefings to a new opera, The Magic Mobile, in which Papageno tries frantically to phone home from the airport, Frayn displays a accurate ear for the ludicrous prose styles of modern life.