In one area at least, Gordon Brown has proved himself to be in perfect harmony with the times. When, this week, his privacy was invaded by a Sky News microphone, his view of poor old Mrs Gillian Duffy was not simply that he had met a woman who disagreed with him. She was a bigot.… Continue reading Censorship is in the ascendant
Read moreWhat a privilege it was to close Marth Kearney’s last Election Lunch on Radio Four’s The World At One with Noel Coward’s song from the early 1950s ‘Bad Times Are Just Around the Corner’ – with a little updated chorus from me. Here it is, complete with the slightly embarrassing fluff which Martha later sweetly… Continue reading Hurray! Hurray! Hurray! Misery’s on the way
Read moreHow excited Barry Miles must have been when the news reached him that his new book London Calling: A Counter-Cultural History of London since 1945 was to be a full-page review in a popular Sunday newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, and by a blue-chip reviewer, the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. Sadly for Barry, it… Continue reading The Mayor of London rips off the counter-culture
Read moreHere’s a marketing idea for party spinners in search of a new angle as the current Rag, Tag and Bobtail electoral race enters the home straight: hedgehogs. Few animals have such a devoted and impassioned human constituency, and yet, according to a new book called Silent Summer, they are among many British species which are… Continue reading If the countryside could vote
Read moreIt is time to look the miserabilists in the eye and declare that, yes, our great country has indeed changed over the past 13 years. Everywhere one looks there are new opportunities for investment and adventure. Once, at this time of the year, we used merely to experience spring. Now we can bet on it,… Continue reading Britain – a land fit for gamblers
Read moreEmitting a mighty belch, nature has grounded us. Our busy plans, large and small, our vaunted technologies, our governments and economies have all been made to seem rather puny beside that quaint and old-fashioned thing from the geography text-books, a volcano. Beyond the misery for some and the inconvenience for many, this moment of cold… Continue reading Pause to reconsider our lives
Read moreSomething horrible has happened to that dapper and dignified theatre critic, Quentin Letts. Attending the first night of the hippie musical Hair, currently being revived at the Gielgud Theatre, he briefly and unpleasantly found himself at the centre of the action. One moment, the lead actor Will Swenson was, as Letts put it, “waving much… Continue reading Quentin Letts and the crotch of history
Read moreJust one now and then, a review appears which takes a step back from the book, film or play under consideration and makes a wider, more significant point. A case in point is Walter Kirn’s recent review in the New York Times of Ian McEwan’s new novel Solar – a book so good, Kirn’s… Continue reading Impressive to behold – but a virtuous pain to read
Read moreIt is truly bizarre that as the economy spirals ever deeper into the red, one group of highly privileged men and women become increasingly wealthy from the public purse – and no one seems to give a damn. MPs may be vilified, bankers may be pariahs, but the fact that senior civil servants can see… Continue reading Our overpaid and overrated public servants
Read moreThe celebrity recluse Charles Saatchi occupies a peculiar position in our culture. Once he was a retiring, powerful man who avoided any kind of exposure to the public eye. Then, when his gallery reached its 20th anniversary, it was announced to an astonished world that, to mark the occasion, he would answer questions on the… Continue reading A celebrity recluse steps into the spotlight
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