Can I be the first to second?

splendid idea Cap'n

I'm standing on a table giving you my support for this excellent idea right now!

Wholehearted support from The Squeezers.

In the light of Wiki-Prog, Hyndford Street II and now this, surely it's high time Messrs H&E offered Mr Seven a regular column in the magazine. I suggest a tight, high-concept brief along the lines of "A thousand words will do nicely".

I should be in A&R, me.

IS Andrew Collins...

The good captain speaks nothing but sense here. Backwards 7 deserves a shot. I have no idea if appearing in the mag exposes him to a wider readership than being on the blog, but he's undoubtedly the best writer here and the most consistently interesting blogger. From that point of view he's already a huge asset to Word. Paying him would only be polite.

Give the boy 7 a chance to get off the bench and have a run on the park; show the crowd what he can do.

(This, of course, assumes he wants to knock out a thousand well-crafted words on a matter of moment)

I'd much rather read Backwards7 than Andrew Collins.

I commend this motion to the House!!

Although, if you're storming the Word offices at noon I might be a little late. Expect me there at half past. Latest, one o'clock.

You can count on my backing

I stormed the Word Offices yesterday. Just don't go kicking in the front windows and frightening the lovely lady receptionist. When she rang through to the Word office in the penthouse suite (attic) and told them Beany was in reception she gave a lovely girly smirk *sigh*.

Ahem. Otherwise I agree. We have some damn fine writers amongst The Massive. I am obviously not one of 'em

...yes.

He's a cracking writer and a lovely bloke. Do it!

Oh, I'm the artist formerly known as idiotbear, by the way.

He gets a fair bit of stick round these parts, and generally you are all correct, but he is not that bad. I have occasionally quite enjoyed parts of one or two of his Whatever essays, even though he talks about "I" too much for my liking.

What I do find quite astounding though is that he is now a stand-up comedian.

Anyway, back to the OP, 'Yes Captain, Sir' from me too.

We only have Bob's word for it that he was idiotbear. I can hear a rising swell of voices all chanting 'No, I'm idiotbear'

Having spoken to b7 on more than one occasion, I can confirm that he can turn a phrase in general conversation better than most of us could after an hour at the typewriter.

So, if the man himself wants to do it, I'd even be willing to write him a reference.

Look, this is terribly embarrassing but you'll have to go ahead with the riot without me. I'm on the train down from Manchester and despite Mr Branson's best efforts apparently even 1st class won't get me there until well after one. But I'll raise a glass of Chablis to you as you go in.

Remember it's stun grenades through the windows before Bob and Joe abseil down from the roof. If that doesn't work I imagine there'll be some kind of doorbell. Use Beany as a Trojan horse if you have to.

Get Mossman out of the building at the first hint of violence, and remember that when you get into the more protracted negotiations, the key decision maker is Mark "Not the face! NOT THE FACE!" Ellen.

Let me know how you get on. Damn, I wish I could be with you.

Y'see Hepworth - this is what happens, you offer us baubles and pretty soon we want the whole shooting match. *I'M* doing the next cover - I have crayons and everything.

To extending my subscription by 2 yrs should the Captn's proposal go through. (Remember rioters, you catch more bees with honey than with vinegar)

Top marks - I'm rioting on your behalf as we speak (:-)

PS. *I'm* Idiotbear. And so's my wife.

idiotbear, short for Kate

He's buggered off to Milan for the weekend. For a football match. Lets storm the blog instead.

against people wasting good monery travelling to watch sport, the dullards. I'm splintering off from your riot and heading down to JJB Sports

I was thinking exactly this just the other day. I was daydreaming that he should be given some space in The Word and then it could say - 'for more of this - join the conversation on the website.'

Follow him on Twitter as well.

If the man himself wishes to accept the nomination (and promises not to write about the Mittford sisters) I fully endorse this proposal.

I've mentioned it before but I love that moment of an...ticipation when I spot the title of a new blog post on my RSS feeds and think - that's got to be Backwards 7!

Would miss the prospect of settling down after work to read another glimpse into the world that is B7.

I get the feeling he'd be embarrassed by all this.

Whilst I'm all for the good Captain's suggestion, I wonder if he has an ulterior motive? Look at all the signs. He's a man returning from the wilderness encouraging others from afar to rebel. Then having put his man of choice at the helm, in this case Backwards 7, he will become an 'eminence grise', a Cardinal Richelieu to Backwards 7's Louis XIII as it were. The next thing you know Messrs. Hepworth and Ellen will hanging by their ankles from the lamp posts outside Word Towers and the Captain will have promoted himself to General! So my warning to the Massive - be careful what you wish for!

.

peasants

Bet he's got huge tracts of land as well, the stupid ker-nighet

...that I can't write like that. But based on what I've read here, he should fit in just fine in the magazine.

(a) We're not overstepping the mark in terms of Wordiquette

(b) B7 wants to

He writes wonderfully, and I would love to see his stuff published in the magazine.

that B7 is pretty bloody talented. Thoroughly splendid chap too.

you can say the answer is Oasis

It would be right that our treasure, our tame haematology technician, Our proud owner of one pair of shoes and chronicler of life on the streets of Southend, is published for the delight of a wider audience. But is not B7 a delicate creature, a fragile artist of precise words who writes as of the Gods but only when the muse strikes? Would the twin dangling Damoclean swords of the looming deadline and the blank page be as the encroaching sheets of blotting-paper are to the precious flower; twin crushers of life and spirit leaving only the soulless corporeal remnant of that which once was vital, a mere spectre of that which once represented all we hold dear?

*pauses to mop brow ostentatiously with hankerchief swept from top pocket*

And are they really going to want to use Backwards Seven as a byline? He'll sound like a right tit.

I don't think he's going anywhere.