I’m at risk of becoming a cat person
Just before Christmas our cat Runty died and I wasn’t in any rush to find a replacement. I like cats…
Something smells fishy at JCU
Do you remember the shocking scientific study about how baby fish in our polluted oceans now actually prefer eating plastic…
Bushfire of the vanities
‘You are literally evil. Dante has a level for you… Now I know that you’re the type who would laugh…
BBC’s A Christmas Carol was the victim of tub-thumping lefty politics
‘Spoke to someone at The BBC yesterday, this person told me they are SH–TING themselves right now, as viewing figures…
My 2019: mice, Marrakesh and a fond farewell to my dear friend Christopher Booker
Another year over and it wasn’t all bad, you know. Here are some of my personal highlights. Best birthday parties:…
The only way to survive Christmas TV is to avoid anything seasonal and watch Giri/Haji
The key to surviving the next couple of weeks of TV is to avoid like the plague anything that smacks…
What have the Anglo-Saxons ever done for us?
It has been a while since I’ve considered the vexed question of Byrhtnoth’s ‘ofermod’. More than 30 years, in fact.…
The only bearable TV series these days are the ones with subtitles, like Der Pass
True to the Andrew Roberts rule that the only bearable series on TV these days are ones with subtitles, I’ve…
Clive’s noble cause
The great Clive James died on the same day as the great Jonathan Miller but I know which one I…
What I learned on my speed awareness course
Speed is in my blood. My father, grandfather and great-grandfather all used to race cars in their youth. We even…
War of the Worlds is as bad as Doctor Who
Edwardian England deserved everything it got from those killer Martian invaders. Or so I learned from the BBC’s latest adaptation…
The joy of a day spent bagging almost no birds
The highlight of my country calendar is when I’m lucky enough to be invited to what even the host describes…
God awful: BBC1’s His Dark materials reviewed
‘Here’s your new Sunday night obsession…’ the BBC announcer purred, overintoned and mini-orgasmed, like she was doing an audition for…
My finest hour
Every journalist dreams of the scoop that will make his name. Ten years ago this month I finally got mine…
I’m taking inspiration from an ancient Athenian
How sorry I felt for the poor man who died this week stuck up a 290ft chimney in Carlisle despite…
![Praise be to Mary MacLeod Trump. [Photo: The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/TV_4.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
If we do get a good Anglo-American trade deal, we should thank Trump’s mother
In an uncharacteristic fit of almost-robustness, Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has said she is ‘open-minded’ about scrapping the BBC licence…
How I plan to win a Bafta
I’ve nearly finished my latest screenplay, Drift. It’s a reimagining of a British imperial atrocity which took place in Natal…
Pure, undiluted genius: Succession reviewed
I have never ever watched a TV series I have enjoyed more than Succession (Now TV). There’s stuff I’d put…
At last, the TV-hogging space invaders have returned to university
‘Hands up which other university parents are bloody glad to have got rid of their lumpen, food-gobbling, space-invading kids…’ When…
Gloriously un-PC: Ronan Bennett’s Top Boy reviewed
Sir Lenny Henry, the former comedian, is wont to complain to anyone who’ll listen that there isn’t enough ‘diversity’ on…
Letting China join the WTO was the worst decision the West ever made
It’s not often that you come across a book that completely transforms your understanding of the world. Just recently I’ve…
With these documentaries, the BBC has lost any claim to impartiality
Because the rise of the Nazis is a topic so rarely mentioned these days, least of all in schools, the…
How to beat the autumn blues
You know that awful, gnawing, depressing feeling you’ve got right now? The one that notices how shockingly early the sun…
I like Brassic but the reason it’s getting such glowing notices is depressing
Brassic (Sky One) feels like the sort of TV comedy drama they last made about 15 years ago but would…
When did English A-level become a science?
Now that my youngest has got her A-level grades, I’m finally free to say just how much I have loathed…
