Julie Burchill

Rory Stewart is no match for JD Vance

4 February 2025 5:00 pm

I was highly amused to see that JD Vance has administered a right old ‘fagging’ – or whatever public school…

Donald Trump and the decay of left-wing thought

26 January 2025 11:00 am

‘I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,’ wrote Allen Ginsberg in his famous…

Neil Gaiman and the misogyny of the geeks

20 January 2025 8:57 pm

One of the worst ways to form a good first impression of someone is when they’re chasing the same woman…

What Brewdog’s James Watt gets wrong about work-shy Britain

18 January 2025 5:20 pm

What’s the greatest divide in life? Is it between the dumb and the clever, the rich and the poor, the…

Most-read 2024: Can Meghan and Harry stoop any lower?

27 December 2024 4:00 pm

We’re closing 2024 by republishing our five most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 5: Julie Burchill’s article from December…

Modern-day ghosts: Haunted Tales, by Adam Macqueen, reviewed

14 December 2024 9:00 am

Dark, unsettling stories set mostly in the world of social media and panic rooms are, strikingly, as much about love as death – and how love is stronger

Can Meghan and Harry stoop any lower?

7 December 2024 9:00 am

Looking back on the Queen’s 1992 ‘annus horribilis’, the events involved – though surprising at the time – seem almost…

Is this the end for the luxury believers?

2 December 2024 8:00 pm

I’m not the biggest Donald Trump fan, so I surprised myself by being pleased when he won the American election…

Is there any escape from Olivia Colman?

23 November 2024 4:30 pm

I still remember the day when, as an adult in my twenties, I was informed by a well-wisher that Aslan…

I listened to a solid week of Woman’s Hour…

16 November 2024 9:00 am

I was a weird kid, and though I harboured the usual innocent girlish ambitions of being a drug fiend and…

The triumph of Mr and Mrs Badenoch

9 November 2024 5:15 pm

When we used to think of Tory marriages, we mostly thought of when they went horribly wrong – when the…

The Women’s Equality Party deserves its fate

1 November 2024 4:30 pm

Of all the grotesque modern types who cast a silly-yet-sinister shadow over the dog-days of Western civilisation – the Queers…

Nepo babies will never know the joy of making it on their own

20 October 2024 5:00 pm

Did you know that Bruce Springsteen’s son, Sam, is a fireman? Fireman Sam Springsteen. It sounds like a joke, but…

The void at the heart of Phillip Schofield

30 September 2024 7:52 pm

I’ve always found the word ‘presenting’ – as in TV presenting – somewhat comical. It’s such a giveaway. In theory,…

University isn’t sexy anymore

21 September 2024 3:00 pm

Freshers’ Week. It sounds so appealing, even to an uneducated counter-jumper like me who finds the word ‘uni’ so repellent…

The truth about Jeremy Kyle

10 September 2024 4:00 pm

The inquest into the death of Steve Dymond, the unfortunate man who was found dead a week after his appearance…

When doctors have a dark side

7 September 2024 4:30 pm

We’re quite happy to think badly of most professions. The corrupt politician, the sleazy hack, the bent copper and the…

Oasis’s reunion is a moment of joy – but I won’t be buying tickets

31 August 2024 10:00 am

As someone who was around pop stars from a very young age, I’m not inclined to get over-excited about them.…

Reginald D. Hunter and the cowardice of the comedy class

17 August 2024 4:33 pm

The brave clown who speaks the truth and shames the devil is a showbiz tradition, from Charlie Chaplin to Lenny…

The trouble with Adele

27 July 2024 10:00 am

I remember a time when I didn’t object to Adele. Working-class in the increasingly posh world of popular music, always…

The power of the brown American diva

27 July 2024 9:00 am

Deborah Paredez celebrates ‘bold, beautiful, messy’ stars such as Tina Turner, Celia Cruz, Vikki Carr, Grace Jones and Aretha Franklin as fabulous role models for the oppressed

Joe Biden and the truth about old age

20 July 2024 4:30 pm

Observing the tremulous travails of Joe Biden, I reflected that we’re in two minds about old age. On one hand…

Labour’s sinister record on trans rights

12 July 2024 5:00 pm

There’s a funny saying the Cockneys have to describe something ghastly coming in the wake of something lovely: ‘After the…

The trouble with David Tennant

27 June 2024 4:15 pm

Most people have a soft spot for the first ‘X’ film they legitimately saw as an alleged ‘adult’; mine was Magic,…

The Green party’s women problem

22 June 2024 4:30 pm

In an excellent essay I wrote for this magazine at the start of the year – ‘Sir’ Ed Davey’s Lib Dems are…