Most-read 2024: Can Meghan and Harry stoop any lower?
We’re closing 2024 by republishing our five most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 5: Julie Burchill’s article from December…
Modern-day ghosts: Haunted Tales, by Adam Macqueen, reviewed
Dark, unsettling stories set mostly in the world of social media and panic rooms are, strikingly, as much about love as death – and how love is stronger
Can Meghan and Harry stoop any lower?
Looking back on the Queen’s 1992 ‘annus horribilis’, the events involved – though surprising at the time – seem almost…
Is this the end for the luxury believers?
I’m not the biggest Donald Trump fan, so I surprised myself by being pleased when he won the American election…
Is there any escape from Olivia Colman?
I still remember the day when, as an adult in my twenties, I was informed by a well-wisher that Aslan…
I listened to a solid week of Woman’s Hour…
I was a weird kid, and though I harboured the usual innocent girlish ambitions of being a drug fiend and…
The triumph of Mr and Mrs Badenoch
When we used to think of Tory marriages, we mostly thought of when they went horribly wrong – when the…
The Women’s Equality Party deserves its fate
Of all the grotesque modern types who cast a silly-yet-sinister shadow over the dog-days of Western civilisation – the Queers…
Nepo babies will never know the joy of making it on their own
Did you know that Bruce Springsteen’s son, Sam, is a fireman? Fireman Sam Springsteen. It sounds like a joke, but…
The void at the heart of Phillip Schofield
I’ve always found the word ‘presenting’ – as in TV presenting – somewhat comical. It’s such a giveaway. In theory,…
University isn’t sexy anymore
Freshers’ Week. It sounds so appealing, even to an uneducated counter-jumper like me who finds the word ‘uni’ so repellent…
The truth about Jeremy Kyle
The inquest into the death of Steve Dymond, the unfortunate man who was found dead a week after his appearance…
When doctors have a dark side
We’re quite happy to think badly of most professions. The corrupt politician, the sleazy hack, the bent copper and the…
Oasis’s reunion is a moment of joy – but I won’t be buying tickets
As someone who was around pop stars from a very young age, I’m not inclined to get over-excited about them.…
Reginald D. Hunter and the cowardice of the comedy class
The brave clown who speaks the truth and shames the devil is a showbiz tradition, from Charlie Chaplin to Lenny…
The trouble with Adele
I remember a time when I didn’t object to Adele. Working-class in the increasingly posh world of popular music, always…
The power of the brown American diva
Deborah Paredez celebrates ‘bold, beautiful, messy’ stars such as Tina Turner, Celia Cruz, Vikki Carr, Grace Jones and Aretha Franklin as fabulous role models for the oppressed
Joe Biden and the truth about old age
Observing the tremulous travails of Joe Biden, I reflected that we’re in two minds about old age. On one hand…
Labour’s sinister record on trans rights
There’s a funny saying the Cockneys have to describe something ghastly coming in the wake of something lovely: ‘After the…
The trouble with David Tennant
Most people have a soft spot for the first ‘X’ film they legitimately saw as an alleged ‘adult’; mine was Magic,…
The Green party’s women problem
In an excellent essay I wrote for this magazine at the start of the year – ‘Sir’ Ed Davey’s Lib Dems are…
How will Remainers cope with a right-wing Europe?
I love to make up new words and see them gradually used more by others – for a writer, there’s…
Why I’ll be voting Reform (reluctantly)
I’ve always loved voting. No matter how many times I’ve been disappointed, I’ll be out there next time round getting…
The glorious downfall of Lloyd Russell-Moyle
It’s always handy for parents to have someone they can use to put their children off any particular profession. ‘Don’t…
The enduring ghastliness of Sarah Ferguson
When I was a kid in the music business, I became aware of a funny phenomenon whereby visiting American bands…
