Biddy Baxter and the perils of remembering the past
I’ve been reading the cracking, crackling new biography Biddy Baxter: The Woman Who Made Blue Peter by Richard Marson (he’s a friend,…
The endless hypocrisy of the comedy class
Personally I find TV panel shows pretty unbearable. They’re like being at a student party full of lairy smartarses you…
Talk TV’s interview with Graham Linehan was a disaster
In my time I’ve watched a lot of TV, and so I’ve seen a lot of bad TV. But the…
The Tories have invented a new philosophy – unpopulism
Steve Barclay is appalled. A source close to the health secretary has told the Mail that he is ‘appalled to…
Why aren’t we more afraid of China?
Electric cars made in China could be turned off remotely, immobilising them instantly and crippling the West. That terrifying prospect…
The BBC deserves its declining audience figures
So, the figures are in. The total weekly audience for BBC Radio 2 has dropped by a million in the…
Bring back normies!
The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘normie’ as ‘a normal person, who behaves in the same way as most other people in society’. Merriam-Webster tells us it refers ‘to one whose tastes, lifestyle,…
Just Stop Oil have finally met their match
Have Just Stop Oil finally met their match? The splendidly named counter-organisation ‘Just Stop Pissing People Off’ have pulled off…
Will we even notice if AI replaces screenwriters?
Will we even notice if AI replaces screenwriters?
Stop trying to make high culture funky
Clive Myrie, now probably the top face of the BBC, and host of their television coverage of the Proms, had…
Why are we so obsessed with TV presenters?
The mucky allegations about a ‘household name’ BBC star – who is said to have paid thousands of pounds to…
The worst excesses of the Saintly Reading Cult
I read a lot of fiction. I always have. It’s not unusual for me to have three of four books…
Boris Johnson’s peculiar conservative conversion
In his most recent column for the Mail, Boris Johnson fires a shot at, among other things, ‘the leftie twittersphere’.…
Harry and Meghan may still have a bright podcasting future
After Spotify sacked/let go/‘mutually agreed to part ways’ with, in the words of one of its executives, those ‘f-ing grifters’…
We are far stranger than aliens
You may have missed it amid all the other news of the last few days, but the aliens have apparently…
What the Smiths’ critics don’t get
It’s forty years since the Smiths released their first single ‘Hand In Glove’. We’ve already seen a slew of articles…
The Tories need to get serious about the Blob
The government has paid a whacking out-of-court settlement of £100,000 to Anna Thomas, a whistleblower sacked after she tried to…
Succession’s only real flaw
It’s strange to reach the end of something you’ve relished with a sense of relief. HBO’s Succession has given me…
The fascinating obsession with Phillip Schofield’s downfall
The rift between Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, long-standing sobbing/giggling presenters of This Morning, has been one of the big…
The sad decline of BBC Radio 4
Radio 4 is in trouble. Listening figures for the station have dipped to their lowest level since 2007. The Today programme,…
A Lib-Lab coalition would be hilarious
Talk of a new Labour-Lib Dem coalition is in the air. This is piquantly nostalgic to those of us whose…
Could AI save the human race?
Two things are buzzing about in the air at the moment: decline and artificial intelligence. Douglas Murray and Louise Perry…
Monarchy and celebrities should not mix
This weekend’s coronation will be an historic moment, a milestone in the mass memory. Just think how many dreary British…
Jolyon Maugham’s opening sentence might be the worst of all time
In the first sentence of his book, Jolyon Maugham – the anti-Brexit KC best known for clubbing a fox to…
The rise of rowdy theatre audiences isn’t a surprise
The incident at Manchester’s Palace Theatre last Friday night at the close of a performance of the musical version of The…
