Argumentative Penguin
Bio
Playwright. Screenwriter. Penguin. Big fan of rational argument and polite discourse. You can find me causing all sorts of written mischief wherever I may be.
Stories (12)
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'Kid Interrupts Dad' Is A Masterclass In Comedy Structure
Videos on the internet cannot get funnier than when Professor Robert Kelly's children interrupted his BBC interview on the important topic of North Korea. I love everything about this video and now I'm about to tell you with my insider knowledge as a playwright why you should too.
By Argumentative Penguin4 years ago in Families
Hey! Leave The Kids Alone...
Children aren't as fragile as you think they are. The more we treat them like fragile little creatures, the more fragile they actually become. I can tell you with absolute certainty that the biggest threat facing the happiness of children today is overbearing parents.
By Argumentative Penguin4 years ago in Education
And The Rains...
“The wise man built his house upon the rock.” It was one of his greatest bugbears that over my years of independence I had strayed into staunch atheism, but as I turn the key to the crumbling remains of the home he built, I can’t shake it from my brain. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. And the rains came tumbling down.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Fiction
I Still Check The Back Of Wardrobes. Top Story - July 2021.
I wasn't middle-class enough to be read to, instead, I perfected reading by torchlight so I didn't wake up my brother with whom I shared a room. My parents would turn a blind-eye to the little glowing tent I formed every evening. Today, such a glow would be emanating from a screen and Youtube but in the late 80s and early 90s, the glow was reflecting off the heavily thumbed pages of The Chronicles of Narnia.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Confessions
Homegrown
That day had been inevitable. I always had a feeling that it would come to me. We'd been brought up to find the whole thing noble; lessons and scriptures throughout our time at school had made it very clear how much of an honour it was to be one of the Bearers. My older sisters loved the idea. I think the tragic romanticism of it all was attractive to them at first; being able to tell people they held such a hard-hitting and burdenous responsibility seemed to make it all worthwhile, despite the drawbacks. I'd never felt the same way, not even as a child.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Fiction
A Tale of Two Sittings
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…. My friend, being of a few economic classes higher than myself, moves in such circles that occasional tickets to large scale events are mysteriously forthcoming. He, a gentleman and a scholar, will at times furnish these tickets upon friends and family when such an action confers him some social advantage.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Humans
The Most Dangerous Woman in the UK Prison System
It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a serial killer should be creepy, male and have a terrible and abusive childhood. I may have overstated the case. Sure, there's some wiggle room in there for outliers like Bundy, only creepy after the fact, and Eileen Wuornos… but for the most part, the average person's mind will go straight to John Wayne Gacy or Ed Gein.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Criminal
Every Cloud Has A Cotton Lining
The beginning of the project This project really began in the winter of 1998. The Spice Girls ‘Goodbye’ was the Christmas number one, an inevitable decline in song quality that would see them usurped in their festive totalitarianism by Westlife’s 'Seasons in the Sun'.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Lifehack
Swimming In A World Without Sharks
I know what you're thinking. A penguin making the case for sharks… that's weird. Aren't you guys enemies? Aren't penguins the cute embodiment of fluffy aquatic goodness whilst sharks are sleek cartilaginous killing machines?
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Earth
Nazis in our classes: Examining Society 50 Years After The Third Wave Experiment
Why did the German people let the holocaust happen?'. This question is one often asked of history teachers by their inquisitive students. It's a valid question and doesn't have a simple soundbite answer. The reasons sit deep in the complexity of human psychology.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Education
Young Children Kick Pigeons but Adult-Children Kick You
Wherever human beings gather there is ‘drama’. We can’t seem to help it. Everyone knows a person whose entire raison d’etre is creating and manufacturing ‘situations’. If you don’t know a person, it might be you.
By Argumentative Penguin5 years ago in Psyche
