diff --git a/ghost/admin/controllers/posts.js b/ghost/admin/controllers/posts.js
index 9387ab0155..83c0b264de 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/controllers/posts.js
+++ b/ghost/admin/controllers/posts.js
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ var PostsController = Ember.ArrayController.extend({
     //     published_at: DESC
     //     updated_at: DESC
     orderBy: function (item1, item2) {
-
         function publishedAtCompare() {
             var published1 = item1.get('published_at'),
                 published2 = item2.get('published_at');
@@ -35,9 +34,25 @@ var PostsController = Ember.ArrayController.extend({
             return Ember.compare(item1.get('published_at').valueOf(), item2.get('published_at').valueOf());
         }
 
-        var statusResult = Ember.compare(item1.get('status'), item2.get('status')),
-            updatedAtResult = Ember.compare(item1.get('updated_at').valueOf(), item2.get('updated_at').valueOf()),
-            publishedAtResult = publishedAtCompare();
+        var updated1 = item1.get('updated_at'),
+            updated2 = item2.get('updated_at'),
+            statusResult,
+            updatedAtResult,
+            publishedAtResult;
+
+        // when `updated_at` is undefined, the model is still
+        // being written to with the results from the server
+        if (item1.get('isNew') || !updated1) {
+            return -1;
+        }
+
+        if (item2.get('isNew') || !updated2) {
+            return 1;
+        }
+
+        statusResult = Ember.compare(item1.get('status'), item2.get('status'));
+        updatedAtResult = Ember.compare(updated1.valueOf(), updated2.valueOf());
+        publishedAtResult = publishedAtCompare();
 
         if (statusResult === 0) {
             if (publishedAtResult === 0) {
diff --git a/ghost/admin/mixins/validation-engine.js b/ghost/admin/mixins/validation-engine.js
index e1fbad7c78..534754801d 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/mixins/validation-engine.js
+++ b/ghost/admin/mixins/validation-engine.js
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ var ValidationEngine = Ember.Mixin.create({
         if (Ember.isArray(errors)) {
             // get validation error messages
             message = errors.mapBy('message').join('<br />');
+        } else if (errors instanceof Error) {
+            // we got some kind of error in Ember
+            message += ': ' + errors.message;
         } else if (typeof errors === 'object') {
             // Get messages from server response
             message += ': ' + getRequestErrorMessage(errors);
diff --git a/ghost/admin/utils/ajax.js b/ghost/admin/utils/ajax.js
index 12ebc8f2b2..b67e181603 100644
--- a/ghost/admin/utils/ajax.js
+++ b/ghost/admin/utils/ajax.js
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ var getRequestErrorMessage = function (request) {
 
                 message = request.responseJSON.errors.map(function (errorItem) {
                     return errorItem.message;
-                }).join('; ');
+                }).join('<br />');
             } else {
                 message =  request.responseJSON.error || 'Unknown Error';
             }