A journalist is a grumbler, a censurer, a giver of advice, a regent of sovereigns, a tutor of nations. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

• Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769 - 1821

Use capital letters for proper nouns. Avoid them for common nouns.

Proper nouns are the names of things. So use capitals for the names of people, places, months, days of the week, companies and so on. Don’t use capitals for common nouns.

People run into difficulty with capitals because there’s a temptation to use them for important words. In business writing people often use capitals as a way of avoiding offending someone or something by implying he or it isn’t important.

Another difficulty is with titles. Newspapers typically use a capital letter when the title comes directly before a person’s name but not otherwise.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is correct, but it would be the prime minister’s desk.

For more on this see Narcissistic capitals.

In his book Newsman’s English British newspaper editor Harold Evans says;

“Avoid using them unnecessarily. The Parks Committee, but subsequently the committee. The South West Regional Hospital Board, but then the hospital board.”

One piece of advice I had early in my career as a journalist is: “If in doubt use lower case unless it looks wrong”.

Lastly, do not use capital letters for emphasis and avoid writing words in all capitals.

I suspect people in Sicily will understand why the big tech companies are all making huge “donations” to the Trump inauguration fund.

One thing I absolutely HATE about TradeMe is that I filled in fields saying that I don’t allow pickups and I’m not open to offers and yet all week long I’ve had annoying fools sending messages for both these things. And I can see these people are major online traders.

Two years ago I spent three or four days chopping back half a dozen privet bushes on our property. I drilled holes in the stumps and poured in non-toxic weed killer. There wasn’t much last summer, but this year it has returned with a vengeance. It turns out my earlier work only amounted to pruning.

Disappointed Australia’s Northern Territory News didn’t feature any crocodile stories over Christmas - New Year. Standards are slipping.

My motivation for using TradeMe to sell the old tech from my cupboard is about recycling not about making money (which I send to good causes). I’ve noticed if I price low, traders will buy and resell my items at many multiples of my price. I have mixed emotions about this.

Man City v Everton - Home

AFC Bournemouth v Crystal Palace - Home

Chelsea v Fulham - Home

Newcastle v Aston Villa - Draw

Nottingham Forest v Tottenham Hotspur - Home

Southampton v West Ham - Away

Wolves v Manchester United - Away

Liverpool v Leicester - Home

Brighton v Brentford - Draw

Arsenal v Ipswich - Home

Last week I imploded with only two correct picks.

“Affordable” is one of the weasel words used by marketing people. What they hope you’ll read is “this is cheap”, what they actually mean is “you can buy this if your children miss out on essentials”.

It’s not a profound or original thought, but I’m overwhelmed at how many excellent pie makers there are in New Zealand. It’s something we do really well.

Yes, Australia is good at this too, their best are up there, but here the general standard even in modest looking suburban bakeries is high, often gourmet.

In urban areas you are rarely more than 15 minutes from great pies. Where I live I can count at least six first class establishments within 20 minutes.

For health reasons I have to limit myself to no more than two in any week, but the temptation is strong. What a way to go.

I love to fix broken things. My daughter gave me her stick vacuum. Turns out the problem is the battery, found a replacement battery, but it costs more to buy the replacement and pay for shipping than the price of a new vacuum. This is why landfills are full.

From my site 15 years ago. Looking back I’d say musicians have done way better than journalists, but that’s not a high bar.

billbennett.co.nz/music-jou…

Aston Villa - Manchester City - Home

Brentford - Nottingham Forest - Away

Ipswich - Newcastle - Draw

West Ham - Brighton - Home

Crystal Palace - Arsenal - Draw

Everton - Chelsea - Away

Fulham - Southampton - Home

Leicester - Wolves - Home

Manchester United - Bournemouth - Draw

Tottenham - Liverpool - Draw

Last week was a disaster with only three correct.

So far this season I have 62 right out of 129 games predicted (I didn’t start until Match Day 4). That’s a hit rate of 48 percent.

Made it to December 16 without hearing a single Christmas song… but from here on in it gets harder. Apart from anything else I can’t avoid the supermarket much longer

How bad is it when a New Zealand company INSISTS on a mobile phone number before you can order online, but will only accept numbers in the international format but without the + part of +64. Having to guess the required format is a customer usability nightmare.

I don’t see any away winners this week, that’s statistically unlikely, but here goes:

Arsenal - Everton - Home

Liverpool - Fulham - Home

Newcastle United - Leicester City - Home

Wolverhampton - Ipswich Town - Draw

Nottingham Forest - Aston Villa - Draw

Brighton & Hove - Crystal Palace - Home

Manchester City - Manchester United - Home

Chelsea - Brentford - Home

Southhampton - Tottenham Hotspur - Draw

Bournemouth - West Ham - Home

Last week I scored seven out of nine, my best week yet. The postponed Liverpool - Everton game would probably have given me an 80 percent hit rate, but there’s still time yet.

As of this week I’m at 59 right out of 119 games, a fraction under 50 percent.

At some point I managed to disable voicemail on my phone. That’s good, I hate using it. But then I upgraded my phone and there are now a dozen voicemail messages that I don’t want to listen to and I’ve forgotten the magic incantations needed to switch it off agin.

When I was a student and worked on the University newspaper, an old school Marxist described me as a “petite bourgeoisie deviationist”, which was a bit on the nose. I’m 1.95 metres tall; there is nothing petite about me.

Here’s an unpopular option that won’t win me many friends.

Nine times out of ten if you are driving around New Zealand and you see a sign that says “museum”… just carry on driving, if you need a break, find a cafe. They are usually good, the museums are not.

And we have a live cross to our relaxation correspondent…

For years I have resisted Apple’s offer of a three month free subscription to Arcade… I just can’t be bothered.

The thing about New Zealand is that you are only ever one Lotto jackpot away from being financially set-up for life.

A confession: I was too much of a coward to watch the Black Caps test match. What little I saw made me want to hide behind the sofa like I did when I was six years old and the Daleks were on TV.

Picking Fulham to draw with Arsenal seems brave, almost foolhardy, but there you go.

Everton - Liverpool - away

Brentford - Newcastle - home

Aston Villa - Southampton - home

Crystal Palace - Manchester City - away

Man United - Nottm Forest - draw

Fulham - Arsenal - draw

Leicester City - Brighton - draw

Ipswich - Bournemouth - away

Tottenham - Chelsea - away

West Ham - Wolves - home

I got four right last week taking the running tally up to 47 percent right so far this season.

Ipswich Town - Crystal Palace - Home

Leicester City - West Ham - Draw

Southampton - Chelsea - Away

Manchester City - Notts Forest - Home

Newcastle - Liverpool - Away

Everton - Wolves - Home

Arsenal - Manchester United - Home

Aston Villa - Brentford - Draw

Fulham - Brighton - Draw

Bournmouth - Tottenham Hotspur - Draw

I got six right last week taking the running tally up to 50 percent right so far this season.