Facts are now history
Your quiz for the week is to make the connection between the following people: fun-loving Greek hack Homer, veteran US…
What if Covid had struck in the 1970s?
We have reached Covid-19’s first anniversary in the UK — and I really think we should do something fitting to…
A criminally underrated songwriter: Matthew Sweet’s Catspaw reviewed
Grade: A– The early 1990s were a lovely time for rock music: Beck, Sparklehorse, Sugar, Green on Red and Royal…
The big tech bullies
I was in the kitchen preparing the family’s dinner when the inauguration of Joe Biden was on TV, so I…
What makes us think they’ll release lockdown after vaccines?
Has the coup happened yet? You have the advantage over me. It was supposed to have taken place on Sunday.…
As pretty as anything he’s written in four decades: McCartney III reviewed
Grade: A- The greatest songwriter of the 20th century, or just one of the top two or three? Who…
Who volunteers to be lectured by children?
The screenwriter Russell T. Davies has said that only gay actors should be cast in gay parts, believing this leads…
The age of de-enlightenment
Depictions of Thomas Carlyle and David Hume in the Scottish Portrait Gallery will be altered to make it clear they…
This has been the year of epic derangement
I wonder if British universities will follow Cornell’s innovative approach to ensuring students are protected from wretched viruses? The American…
A conciliatory P.J. O’Rourke is not the satirist we know and love
There was an acidic bravura and beauty in P.J. O’Rourke’s early journalism and a gleefulness in the ease with which…
'You can't have opinions any more': Rick Wakeman interviewed
Rod Liddle talks to Rick Wakeman about lockdown, the Sex Pistols, and how you can’t have opinions any more
In defence of the booing Millwall fans
It is an enormous shame that the Millwall fans who booed their players for ‘taking a knee’ in support of…
The Tavistock is a national scandal
How noble of the British Library to have apologised to the family of the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes for…
Make Status Quo sound like Stockhausen: AC/DC's Power Up reviewed
Grade: C The fear is this: you’re wearing a leather jacket and hipster jeans and think you look cool, but…
The public sector delusion
I wonder how much more money we will have to bung the teachers in order to inculcate within them an…
The march of the fascist mushrooms
It has been too long coming. While conscientious and decent liberals have tried to explain why, to their horror, millions…
I’ve heard worse things — the death rattle of a close relative, for example: Kylie’s Disco reviewed
Grade: B– Uh-oh. Might have to be careful here, pull my punches a little bit. The editor is a big…
Voters have lost their nerve
Elections teach us nothing. Instead, each tribe dredges succour from the minutiae, proving that they had been right all along.…
How political is your fruit and veg?
I recently bought some quinces in our local farmshop as part of my new policy of investing heavily in right-wing…
There is no Santa Claus, Sir Patrick
It seems, then, that this latest lockdown has been instigated simply to protect two very questionable institutions — the National…
The morality of free school meals
The main problem with the government giving in over free school meals during the holidays — other than that it…
The BBC needs a reality check
One of my favourite moments of viewing in this strange and dark year was the outgoing director-general of the BBC, Tony…
Spare us David Hare
Having not watched television for nine months and already growing bored of the 1,000-piece jigsaw of General Alfredo Stroessner (part…
What I got wrong about lockdown
The news that residents of Liverpool are not allowed to visit any other cities in the UK is a hammer…
Who’s missing from that list of Great Black Britons
There are two striking things about the new book, 100 Great Black Britons, which was compiled to celebrate the achievements…
