Of all the names one would least expect to find in reports of a controversy about sport, life and death, and America, that of Captain Mark Phillips would be a leading contender. The captain – “Foggy Phillips”, as he was unkindly known when he was the bewildered consort of Princess Anne – has been out… Continue reading Winners don’t always play by the rules
Read moreImagine for a moment that a government body has delivered a report which presents, as one of four policy options, the prospect of your house being destroyed as well as your local shops, pub, village and landscape. It could happen within the next decade or so, the experts tell you, or in a century’s time.… Continue reading The whiff of defeatism in the face of an old enemy
Read moreThe shaggy media millionaire and poet Felix Dennis has just confessed to murder. In a newspaper interview with Ginny Dougary, he told of an event, some 25 years ago, when a man he knew behaved so badly and violently towards a woman and her children that Dennis decided to take action. “In the end, I… Continue reading When truth and its showbiz cousin collide
Read moreHow is this for an image which perfectly captures the greed, hypocrisy and downright silliness of the age through which we are living? A planeload of passengers flies from Norwich to Dublin. When it arrives, the travellers wait at the airport for half an hour and then re-board the plane to fly straight back. They… Continue reading A stunt that exposes the truth about corporate greed
Read moreLike a tired old couple nagging wearily away at one another, politicians and the media have been bickering over the great marriage crisis exposed by the Office of National Statistics. In 2005, the number getting married fell by nine per cent from the previous year; 2006 saw another significant fall, this time of four per… Continue reading Is it so terrible that marriage is in decline?
Read moreBefore the current pitch invasion by wimps, cissies and goody-goodies gets out of hand, it is time to speak up for bad behaviour in football. As in any sport, there will be certain types of play which are inadmissible: the leg-breaking tackle, for example, or the elbow to the face. It is probably a bad… Continue reading Why can’t we let off steam on the pitch?
Read moreIt was, on reflection, not such a good idea for Sebastian Horsley, the English artist and decadent, to fly into New York on a publicity tour during Easter week. It was six years ago that he acquired a certain notoriety by having himself crucified in the Philippines. Although he has no religious pretensions other than… Continue reading When refusing to repent is considered suspect
Read moreHere they come again, the tragic comic gang. There is Tony Hancock, of course, and our old friend Frankie Howerd. Absent this time around are Kenneth Williams and Spike Milligan, and the ghost of Peter Cook is being given a well-earned rest, but while there are TV commissioning editors eager to give us new versions… Continue reading Yawn ! Another tale of the tragic funny man
Read moreHere is an idea for a cracking new radio series. Called something like The Horse’s Mouth, each programme would bring together famous people who share a talent but who are separated by several generations. A grizzled old footballer would talk to an 18-year-old star of the future. Tony Benn could meet one of those new… Continue reading Forget fame – just aim for a gig on Cromer Pier
Read moreNow and then, events which are utterly disparate and different align themselves into a pattern of dreamlike logic. So it has been this week with the self-banishing of the eminent actor Hugh Laurie, an uncertain spasm of loyalty to the Crown from the former attorney-general Lord Goldsmith and the 30th anniversary of the death of… Continue reading I’d swap French pride for British cynicism
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