The law of unintended consequences
When I awoke the other morning and switched on my radio, the airwaves were alive with the sound of furious,…
What took you so long, Seb Coe?
There’s a left-wing internet advocacy group called 38 Degrees which suggests to its followers that all they have to do…
The reason Glastonbury is so white
The former comedian Sir Lenny Henry has questioned why there seem to be so few black people at rock festivals…
The British Empire’s despicable treatment of mermaids
I may have broken the law this week, without having intended to, so great was my rush to return home.…
How to win my vote
The repeated injunction that we should all ‘move on’ from worrying our silly heads about partygate is as otiose as…
Are you paying attention?
I have just posted a score of 1,625,000 on Bubbleshooter, my best yet. Bubbleshooter is a game where you fire…
What we learnt from Eurovision
Twice during the Eurovision Song Contest our television lost the signal and the set went blank – once, mercifully, during…
The BBC’s obsession with youth
At long last the state of Oregon has got around to installing tampon machines in the male lavatories of its…
Will Putin go nuclear?
A ghastly tragedy Ukraine may well be, but it is coming to the rescue of a number of British Conservative…
The quiet dignity of Angela Rayner
In those gentle days before internet pornography there was a book you could buy which listed the precise moment in…
Humour, sweetness and sincerity: Father John Misty's Chloë and the Next Twentieth Century reviewed
Grade: A– In which Josh Tillman reimagines the whole back catalogue of 20th-century American pop music (except for rock), tilting…
My phone call with God
Got slightly wrecked over the bank holiday weekend and had hoped to kind of glide through the early part of…
Durham’s maths problem
More exciting news arrives from Britain’s dimmest university, Durham, which is embarking on a programme to ‘decolonise’ mathematics. About time.…
Can I convert you to my opinion?
I see that on the issue of gay conversion therapy, the Prime Minister has been floating around all over the…
I’m taking in a Ukrainian
Delighted though we all are that Benedict Cumberbatch has decided to allow a Ukrainian family to live in one of…
No one should be doing indie rock at 43: Band of Horses's Things Are Great reviewed
Grade: B That thing, ‘indie rock’, is so well played and produced these days, so pristine and flawless, that it…
What schools should be teaching
The state of Florida recently passed a piece of legislation making it illegal for teachers to hold discussions with pupils…
See this Russian hip hop star before they arrest him: Oxxxymiron's Beauty & Ugliness reviewed
Grade: A+ I was going to review hyperpop chanteuse Charli XCX’s album this week, but it was such boring, meretricious,…
The invasion of Ukraine has exposed the West’s impotence
Putin’s invasion has exposed the West’s impotence
Fabulously boring: Weather Station's How Is It That I Should Look at the Stars reviewed
Grade: C– Anyone remember that TV advert for Canada from the 1980s – a succession of colourful images, including a…
Is global warming really more dangerous than Putin’s nuclear threats?
Having just dusted down my Geiger counter and argued with the family about whether or not there is room for…
Too neat but it has hooks aplenty: Avril Lavigne's Love Sux reviewed
Grade: B Yay, life just gets better and better. World War Three and now this. More petulant popcorn pre-school punk…
Has Putin saved Boris?
It was with some relief that I heard that Labour’s Diane Abbott was opposed to the Russian invasion of Croatia,…
In defence of Shakespeare
My most important new year’s resolution was cast aside this week. I had vowed that in 2022 I would eschew…
We blew our chance to befriend Putin
You have the advantage over me. It may be that you are reading this now in your makeshift fallout shelter,…
