Blame it all on the middle-class drug users
We can suffer a lethal pandemic with lockdowns, petrol shortages and supermarket shelves almost entirely denuded of sausages. But when…
Labour has gone back to 1983
One day quite soon someone at a petrol pump is going to get a tyre iron wrapped around their head.…
Lindsey Buckingham: Lindsey Buckingham
Grade: B– The first time Lindsey Buckingham had a big falling out with Stevie Nicks we at least got some…
The war against intelligence
Two weeks have passed and somehow James Conway is still in a job. He is the director of the English…
Let’s have more diversity at the BBC
I noticed with interest that Gigalum island — off the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll — was up for sale for…
The political power of Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown
There is a rather sweet moment in the middle of each Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown show where, after some magnificently obscene…
Kanye West: Donda
Grade: C– The nicest thing one can say is that this is a marginally better album than we would have…
The Nobel truth
I suspect that there are no people in the world quite so right-on as the Nobel prize committee members. A…
I blame Tony Blair
The Americans may have pulled out, but luckily the Afghans have the world’s vibrant community of witches intervening to save…
Berks and burkas
I have the feeling that Joe Biden will have to wait a while before he receives his Nobel Peace Prize,…
Down the rabbit hole
The literary sensation of the season is apparently a book called The Constant Rabbit, by Jasper Fforde. In brief, a…
Billie Eilish: Happier Than Ever
Grade: C+ Time to get the razor out again — Billie’s back. The slurred and affected can’t-be-arsed-to-get-out-of-bed vocals. The relentless,…
Putting the commie in committee
Last month an epidemiologist called Professor Michael Baker described the UK government’s decision to free its people from Covid restrictions…
The sorry state of the modern apology
I think I would like to apologise for this article in case someone who reads it takes offence. I will…
Will England pull out of the World Cup?
I wonder if the moral guardians of our country — the England football team — intend to participate in the…
What did the Romans ever do for us?
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is planning to install a statue of John Chilembwe in Trafalgar Square. Mr Chilembwe…
England had it and they threw it away
England 1 (Shaw) Italy 1 (swarthy cheat) England had it and threw it away. Much the better side in the…
Bobby Gillespie and Jehnny Beth: Utopian Ashes
Grade: B– Is there anyone in rock music more irritating and stupid than Bobby Gillespie? The rawk’n’roll leather-jacketed self-mythologiser. The…
Me, myself and I
I thought that this week I would share with you a bunch of words and phrases which are currently overused…
The political baggage of moving house
We are currently house-hunting — please let me know if you have one going spare. We are looking for a…
Kings of Convenience: Peace or Love
Grade: A– The problem with Norwegians is that they are so relentlessly, mind-numbingly pleasant. Well, OK, not Knut Hamsun or…
The next horror in store for Keir
I think Keir’s had it. This may not discomfort you terribly, I know. Still less the fact that Labour will…
Euros 2021: England are easily the most boring side in the tournament
England 0 Scotland 0 Hungary 1 (Fiola) France 1 (Griezmann) The wonderful Hungarians almost took my mind off England’s lamentable…
A breath of fresh airwaves
A couple of decades back the Radio Society asked me to moderate a debate for its summer festival. ‘Between who?’…
Black Midi: Cavalcade
Grade: A– Imagine a really disgusting and immoral scientific experiment in which the members of Weather Report, the Mahavishnu Orchestra,…
