Amid the roar and thunder of the global news, a few of the breaking stories around Europe may have escaped your notice. There has been a complaint from Greece that Macedonia’s entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest is unduly nationalistic – it mentions the word “Macedonian” in one verse. Iceland’s representative for the competition… Continue reading New Europe has all the best tunes
Read moreWith his usual fondness for the hammy, headline-grabbing gesture, the Prime Minister has announced that the town through which coffins of dead British servicemen have been borne over the past four years is to be given a title. Wootton Bassett will soon become Royal Wootton Bassett. The honour previously granted to Leamington Spa and Tunbridge… Continue reading An empty title for Wootton Bassett can’t hide tragedy
Read moreBy modern standards of correctness, the National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham, which celebrates its 100th year over four days this week, is something of a sporting throwback. It is an orgy of gambling, quite often stimulated by unacceptable levels of alcohol abuse. The idea of racing dumb animals over obstacles at reckless and occasionally fatal… Continue reading The sport of kings and the ruthless
Read moreBad news, pop pickers. Phil “In the Air Tonight” Collins is hanging up his drumsticks and will be singing and playing no more. His retirement has nothing to do with being the “tormented weirdo” that has been portrayed in the press (he has apparently become rather obsessed by the Battle of the Alamo); Phil says… Continue reading While my guitar gently consoles
Read moreWhere are they now, those brave little books released into the community on Saturday – World Book Day – sometimes delivered by the very hand that wrote them? Many, I fear, will already be languishing under coffee cups, blocking draughts from windows, or gathering dust on a shelf, serving a strictly ornamental purpose. The good-hearted… Continue reading Why is being alone social defeat?
Read moreIt is terrible thing to be told you are bad in bed. There is something inescapably definitive about it. With most of life’s challenges – public speaking, playing a musical instrument, writing a book – there is at least the illusion that, with money or coaching or sheer strength of character, uselessness can be knocked… Continue reading How I discovered I am the Edward Heath of the Twittersphere
Read moreJim Davidson, the unacceptable face of British comedy, is on a truth-and-reconciliation tour with a play he has written in which he co-stars with the black comedian Matt Blaize. Publicising it, he has apologised for any offence he may have caused in the past. John Cleese has recently revealed problems in America he had with… Continue reading The surest way to kill comedy is to pretend we’re all the same
Read moreBen Elton has bombed in Australia: cue mocking laughter and smug chortles. Australians, chippy at the best of times about Pom entertainers trying to make it in their country, will feel vindicated that the sketch show Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth has been pulled after three episodes. Over here, there will be joy among… Continue reading No one can be funny all the time, Ben
Read moreReading about what has gone wrong in other people’s marriages is a harmless enough weekend treat. There are certain newspapers which make it their job to distract readers from the front-page stories of downturn and depression with a sneak peep into the personal failures of the famous. Somehow reading these articles hardly feels like voyeurism.… Continue reading A very modern form of betrayal – telling tales out of marriage
Read moreThe only representative of publishers in filmed fiction has been in the TV drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire in which Frank Findlay played the part of an editor who is an ageing perv – accurate as far as it goes, but limited.
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