Jolyon Maugham’s opening sentence might be the worst of all time
In the first sentence of his book, Jolyon Maugham – the anti-Brexit KC best known for clubbing a fox to…
The rise of rowdy theatre audiences isn’t a surprise
The incident at Manchester’s Palace Theatre last Friday night at the close of a performance of the musical version of The…
Paul O’Grady represented a bygone era of TV
The tragically early death of the magnificent Paul O’Grady struck a blow at the national heart that’s unusual for a celebrity…
The very British Kinks
It’s been 60 years since Muswell Hill brothers Ray and Dave Davies – then 19 and 15 respectively – formed The…
The last thing we need is more TV adaptations of Dickens
Allow me to introduce you to a fun game you can play in your own parlour. You take it in…
Gary Lineker has exposed the truth about television
The Gary Lineker debacle has exposed the breathtaking historical and political ignorance of the supposedly educated. Lineker’s suspension – and…
Radio 2 has misjudged its audience
BBC Radio 2 is one of the many modern cultural enterprises which seems to have as its primary aim alienating…
The decline and fall of Matt Hancock
When Covid first hit the headlines in early 2020, I remember asking myself a question: who’s the health secretary again?…
The Tories should be planting some bombs for Labour
The recent self-defenestration of Nicola Sturgeon led to a rash of columns listing her dazzling lack of actual achievements, many…
Is ‘woke’ dead?
If you don’t live online, you may have missed the controversy over Hogwarts Legacy, the latest computer game to have…
JK Rowling will stand the test of time
I have a problem with magic. Even as a small child with a big imagination, I found magic very hard…
Britain is the sick man of Europe – again
Liz Truss’s recent written confession is remarkable for its childlike air. It reminded me of my buck-passing wheedling whenever I…
Sam Smith and the embarrassing terribleness of LGBTQIA+ culture
Pop music – and specifically pop music stardom – has an incredible power to transform people into things they are…
Did Sandi Toksvig think she could change Justin Welby’s views on gay sex?
An urgent ecumenical update: the conclave has taken place. The great community leader has descended from the summit of Sinai,…
We don’t need a ‘diverse’ coronation
Refugees and the NHS, we are told, will be at the heart of King Charles’s ‘diverse’ coronation in May. You’d…
The great Tory delusion
Spare us from feeble, timid Tories. At times, the party’s MPs are so afraid of what the Guardian or their…
An ode to Mrs Brown’s Boys
‘A mother hen watching all her chicks, a sassy old lady full of tricks’. Mrs Brown’s Boys recently returned to…
Twixmas and the truth about why people liked lockdown
We don’t have a standardised name for the little clutch of strange days between Christmas and New Year. There is…
What Christianity teaches us about the transgender wars
It’s Christmas – again. For old timers like me, the familiarity of this time of year can blunt the strangeness…
Why is Elton John so pompous?
‘All my life,’ Elton John told the Twittersphere last Friday afternoon, ‘I’ve tried to use music to bring people together.…
King Charles should ignore Ngozi Fulani
If a visitor to my house suggested they had been abused and verbally attacked when they came to tea, I…
Matt Hancock showed how Conservatives can win
It’s somehow appropriate that Matt Hancock finished third in the 2022 series of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! Third is…
How did contemporary culture become so dismal?
Watching the Christmas John Lewis ad, over and over, I’m struck by how much British life has changed – and…
Who is Boy George to look down on Matt Hancock?
Matt Hancock’s ongoing humiliation in the I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! jungle is bad news for lots…
Eco-loonyism is an upper-middle-class rite of passage
Greta Thunberg, the Shirley Temple of the apocalypse, let the cat out of the bag last week. She told the audience at her book launch that…
