BBC
The Spectator’s notes
In 2000, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, accused Magdalen College, Oxford, of class bias in failing to…
What fun it will be if Trump becomes president
I suppose spite and schadenfreude are thinnish reasons, intellectually, for wishing Donald Trump to become the next American president (and…
Pornographer-in-Chief
What does Andrew Davies have to say to those who accuse him of gratuitous rumpy-pumpy in his adaptations of the classics? Stephen Smith finds out
Class of ’83
No one remembers this now but there really was a period, not so long ago, when the Eighties were universally…
Nature is red in tooth and claw. Get over it
Wild Lone is one of the most violent books I’ve ever read. It was published just before the last war…
New word order
Peter Robins reports from Nottingham on a unique adaptation of a novel by the literary innovator B.S. Johnson
Diary
First, an apology. Thanks to me, all journalists at BBC Radio’s ethics and religion division are being sent for indoctrination…
The GP charged around to my side of the table and roved her hand all over my pubic area
On Friday morning I was peeing razor blades so I rang up the doctor and was given an appointment after…
The Spectator’s Notes
When Jeremy Corbyn says it is better to bring people to trial than to shoot them, he is right. So…
DVF worship
Girl is back for half-term so I’ve been able to watch nothing but crap on TV this week. Some of…
What the Great British Bake Off really says about Britain
There was an interesting news item on the television the other day. A transgendered chap was hoping to become the…
Special effects
Maybe what we love about radio is the way that most of its programming allows us the luxury of staying…
Why emote about migrants during a concert?
How should we deal with people who sneeze in public places? Stephen Jackson, aged 49, has found himself in court…
The Spectator’s notes
Presumably Britain has some sort of policy on immigration, asylum and refugees, but instead of struggling to understand it, you…
Bloated Biased Correct
The BBC was created out of the ether in 1922. Its first director general, Lord Reith, inhabited a cupboard some…
Look at my Fringe
Our theatre critic, Lloyd Evans, makes his Edinburgh debut
Orchestral infallibility
Watching the Berlin Philharmonic going into conclave to choose a successor to Simon Rattle — after countless hours of secret…
Diary
There’s nothing quite like a First Night — and last Friday we launched the Proms, the most celebrated classical music…
Diary
I witnessed what was almost a violent fight to the death on Hampstead Heath the other morning. Broad flawless sunlight,…
Tax return
Make no mistake: the Proms, whose 2015 season was launched last night, would not, could not, exist without the BBC,…
Première league
This year the Proms are to stage 21 world premières and 11 European, UK or London premières. It is good…
Caught offside
It’s not surprising that politicians have such an on-off relationship with the broadcast media. One slip. One casual comment. One…
You can’t take the Islam out of Islamic State
At last, British politicians have been galvanised into action by the appalling events last weekend in the Tunisian resort of…
The questions you don’t ask at the BBC
There was a remarkable scene in one BBC Today programme morning meeting in about 1995, as all the producers gathered…
High life
Last Wednesday, 24 June, Pugs held a luncheon in honour of our first member to depart for the Elysian Fields,…
