Generally speaking, roundups of previous journalistic forays are ephemeral and dated pieces that do little more than exhibit the clever curlicues of authorial style (never mind that the subjects have diminuendoed from the public interest at large). However, Self bucks the usual trend of grey water writing with a collection of journalistic pieces that remain surprisingly relevant. On another plus side, it provides us mere cross-atlantic cousins an opportunity to read what we missed, not having our own copies of the Guardian readily available. ( )