Jack Shamash specialises in quirky opinion pieces. Many of these appeared under such columns as Spleen in the Observer Magazine or Last Word in the Weekend Guardian. Unfortunately, these days most opinion pieces are written by celebrities. So there hasn't been much call for this sort of writing over the last few years.

Some of Jack's opinion pieces are not available on the internet. His article on the Art of Travel (how travel narrows the mind) is still in print in the Oxford University Press book of travel writing, which is aimed at GCSE students. It was originally published in the Guardian. Unfortunately his articles slagging off the Body Shop (Observer), pub regulars (the Guardian) and mad people on the tube (the Guardian) are simply not available. Also his article on the literature of Richard Allen (Guardian) is similarly not around. Alas!!

However the following can be read:

Obituary of Richard Allen- 1993 Independent

 Oh, and here's a more recent offering. It's an article on military pillboxes. It was published in the Times, but the Times website is now pay-to-view. So I'm attaching a pdf of the article.