What excitement there was when Any Questions came to town. Members of the great Radio 4 tribe emerged from the Norfolk and Suffolk countryside – a querulous, bloody-minded, easily affronted cross section of the mature middle-class for whom the end of civilized values, as represented by an apostrophe, a radio announcer’s accent or an iffy… Continue reading Soundbites and self-promotion: a tribal gathering for Radio 4 supporters
Read moreIt was a good evening, Monday at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington. Something Happened, ably assisted by Victoria Hart, launched its show TABOO-BE-DO! Hits and Misses from the Politically Incorrect Songbook to a sell-out crowd. No one walked out in disgust at our un-PC songs, from the past century although there were one or two shaking… Continue reading Celebrate the tunes behind a century of trouble
Read moreBetween you and me, all I can think of right now is scandalous music. This Monday, the duo Something Happened, of which I am 50 per cent, joins forces with the amazing singer Victoria Hart at the King’s Head, Islington to launch TABOO-BE-DO! Hits and Misses from the Politically Incorrect Songbook. The launch is a… Continue reading Her heart belongs to Baghdad Daddy
Read moreAn enterprising sociologist might usefully write a thesis on lavatory paper as a reflection of the way our society has unravelled and unrolled over the past decade. In the early years of celebrity madness, the new queen of tabloid Britain Jade Goody announced to a fascinated world that, when she went to the loo, she… Continue reading The Loo-Roll Chronicles – a new chapter unrolls
Read moreAlthough I’m relatively new to the blogosphere, I have received an on-line ‘fisking’ a few times. You know what a fisk is, of course. The blogger takes an article or blog with which he disagrees and rebuts (he thinks/hopes) point by point, usually in a slightly irritating clever-dick way. Yesterday, within minutes of posting a… Continue reading Terry and Teddy Edward: the library debate continues
Read moreA glimpse into our political future. At a dinner held by the august book trade body, the Society of Bookmen, the shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey explained to senior publishers, booksellers and the odd author how a Conservative government would behave towards books and those earn their living from them. It was an interesting performance,… Continue reading Jokes, charm and woolliness: beware the Tory way
Read moreA somewhat snotty perspective of the life of the great JD Salinger, by John Sutherland on the Today programme, has been niggling away at me as I have read the more considered obituaries. Sutherland, who once wrote a book on bestsellers, was scathing about Salinger’s decision not to play the publicity game in any form… Continue reading Salinger: a literary hero who refused to play the game
Read moreIn the glorious city of Barcelona, it occurred to me that Spain is a country that political correctness forgot. Here people smoke cigarettes and cigars as they walk and talk and eat in restaurants. Their diet is almost entirely based on footprint-heavy meat or ecologically questionable species of fish. They spend much of their time… Continue reading A small lesson in happiness from Barcelona
Read moreIn the winter issue of The Author, the house magazine of the Society of Authors, I contributed to the gaiety of the season by considering some of the things which can go wrong for an author trying to get a book published…. There are now two types of writing life. In one, authors write, get… Continue reading Seven Things That Can Go Wrong For a Writer
Read moreAn odd, apparently light-hearted conversation from the weekend has been bothering me. At a dinner, a bright, opinionated woman from London, on a weekend in the country, had been amused to see roadside signs objecting to a wind turbine development outside the village. What was wrong with these people? She wondered. She put up with… Continue reading The cheerful prejudice of the town-dweller
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