On Copy-editing:

[I. J. Parker]

Apparently restaurant reviewers are a lot more temperamental than authors:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/23/mediamonkey

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/23/mediamonkey

[Jim Thomsen]

When in doubt, go conversational.

[I. J. Parker]

"None" = "not one". It's singular. In awkward constructions, there are other ways of saying it. :)

[Jon Loomis]

Ahem.

None: 1.No one, not any one, of a number of persons or things... 2.Not one of a particular class.

Oxford English Dictionary.

It's both.

[Jude Hardin]

I stand corrected. You're right, Jon. Apparently an old edition (1959) of Strunk and White was responsible for that misconception.

[I. J. Parker]

I don't follow. Both 1 and 2 seem singular to me. I guess I'll have to walk downstairs and consult the OED.
Yes, I see it can be both. Logic doesn't enter into this apparently. Swinbourne seems to take the plural from the subsequent prepositional phrase. the "of a number of persons or things". Prepositional phrases ought not to influence subject-verb agreement.

Actually, as I said, I base my rule on Inspector Morse. The "not one" meaning seems to cover the situation well. In any case, the editor changed my singular to plural and I changed it back (twice). And would do so again.

Which is not to say I don't use the plural when I'm speaking.

[Jude Hardin]

Here's the article I read.

[I. J. Parker]

Re Wiki article: This deals with usage, not sentence logic. For that matter, the OED does, too, at least in the examples it cites. I tend to get a bit hung up on grammar rules, having been raised with Latin. :) Also the contraction "none" seems to be based on "not one" and not on "not any".
However, quite right: casual use seems to prefer the plural, if for no better reason than to avoid the "his/her" problem in PC English.

[Kemosabe]

Proper construction whether it sounds right or no should always be used unless it is dialogue.

[Dana King]

Disagree. It also depends on point of view and voice.

[Kemosabe]

Well? I guess you're right.

[Caroline Trippe]

seems to want to clutter my prose with unnecessary "ands" and "thens."

You are always better off if you can OMIT as many ands and thens as possible! :) They are like fifth wheels in prose. The reader won't miss them at all!

[I. J. Parker]

It all depends. They are links and add to the narrative flow. Granted, mostly the facts aren't affected, but surely the style could be, one way or the other.