Radio
Ice cream and pickles
Can you ever truly know a poet? The question arises every time one publishes a collection that looks vaguely confessional.…
His dark materials
Radio works its strongest magic, I always think, when you listen to it in the dark. The most reliable example…
A frog’s-eye view
Whenever I listen to Great Lives on Radio 4, which is often, I am reminded of the gulf between fame…
Historical lucky dip
Like so many of history’s great catastrophes, the story begins with an eccentric Victorian Englishman. Francis Galton was a maker…
Stranger things
‘The Age of Anxiety’, W. H. Auden’s book-length poem, has always been described as strange, and difficult. It is an…
The curious case of Malcolm MacArthur
Non-fiction tells you what happened, fiction affirms the kinds of things that happen. According to Aristotle, anyway. So while journalism…
Busy Lizzie
Elizabeth the First is a ten-part American podcast series that isn’t about Elizabeth I at all. The assumption of its…
The lying game
I shied away from conspiracy stuff during the Trump era. Not the theories themselves, but the huge volume of content…
Vital statistics
In a week of slim audio pickings, I spent time reacquainting myself with some of the BBC classics and can…
Do the Right thing
Subversive is a podcast that documents the world of the ‘New Right’, a strange development in conservatism. Host Alex Kaschuta,…
A dose of sanity
Listening to BBC Radios 3 and 4 over the past week has been like meeting an old friend who, after…
Pod wars
The competition between news-led podcasts is nearing boiling point. If you tuned in to The Media Show on Radio 4…
Never let it go
Who doesn’t love Eurovision? All that razzmatazz. The ghastly frocks and gloopy pop songs, the false bonhomie and bare-faced bias…
Porn and pyjamas
It was recently reported that almost 8 per cent of global internet traffic is to pornographic websites. The rise of…
Striking a false note
The blurb accompanying the Radio 3 series World of Classical, inviting us to ‘join the dots between classical music traditions…
Smoke and mirrors
I go back and forth on tobacco companies. On the one hand, they are merchants of death. On the other,…
Shelley addict
Last week I heard the actor Julian Sands give a virtuoso performance of work by Percy Bysshe Shelley to mark…
Overmilking the crime cow
Nothing new under the sun. Or at least it feels that way these days, doesn’t it? The movies are TV…
Style and substance
One of the New York Met Gala stylists is sharing tips for wearing a corset to an evening do. ‘Breathe…
Playing chicken with your conscience
Jade Goody appeared on Big Brother in 2002. She was a short, loud, blonde-haired woman who broadcast her every thought…
Fresh knickers
Last April Fools’ Day, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo wound up their award-winning film review show on BBC Radio 5…
Soldiery stuff
The Battlegroundpodcast on the wars of the 20th century, said presenter Saul David happily, ‘will have lots of bombs and…
Nattery and nice
Have you ever taken a piece of advice? I’m not asking a rhetorical question. Have you ever once in your…
Rebel yell
Ordinarily, if a podcast purports to be revelatory, you can assume it is anything but. There’s a glut of programmes…
User friendly
‘I like to have a martini,/ Two at the very most./ After three I’m under the table,/ After four I’m…
