I haven’t enjoyed a Bond film since Goldeneye, but I used to be a big fan of most of the Connery/Moore/Dalton films. I chanced upon You Only Live Twice the other night, however, and I remember why I’ve never rew […]

Yes, Threads is the bleakest thing I’ve ever seen. I recall reading that when they did a test screening of it, there was nothing but silence at the end…save for one person sobbing.

An incredibly rich back catalogue of singles. I can’t stand Autumn Almanac, personally, but so many great tunes in the list. I always think it’s odd that a lot of their albums seem to have largely sunk wit […]

I thought the second series was watchable, in the same way that The Second Coming by the Stone Roses isn’t as bad as people said. In both cases, however, you end up thinking: they should probably have left it alone.

The genius of Les Dawson is that he knew – better than anyone – that Blankety Blank was crap.

Ian Hislop gets paid £20,000 per episode of HIGNFY, a show so tired Paul Merton looks like he’s physically attempting to sleep through it. It stopped working as satire about 20 years ago, precisely because the […]

@davebigpicture – I’ve been in several backrooms in Wigan pubs, and I can categorically state they’re much funnier environments than Live at the Apollo.

Collective madness. People weeping for someone they’d never met. Pre-orders in the millions worldwide. We need a song for Princess Di, lads! Bernie and Elton: “Let’s just rewrite one we’ve already done.” [……[Read more]

I’ll have to give it a miss, as Matt Damon is one of those actors I find incredibly irritating. I just don’t think he can act. In fairness, he’s gone full-on method this time: he’s grown a beard. The same go […]

Interesting Jagger interview here. From what he says about the writing process, it doesn’t sound like Keith had too much involvement:

There’s a related name for this: Haddaway’s Syndrome. It dictates that anyone playing loud music in a car with the windows down will, inevitably, be playing some form of Eurodance music.

The Guardian to be banned from writing any further Gen Z articles: they are obsessed. ‘Why Gen Z are Shunning Celery’; ‘Why Gen Z are no Longer Acknowledging Gravity.’

Burnham was MP for the constituency I grew up in, and he was genuinely liked. He attended events he didn’t need to (can’t imagine Nige going to watch a charity choir event on a rainy day) and the feeling was tha […]

@retropath2 ‘a cracked vessel of no small beauty.’ Well played: that phrase is absolutely lovely.

I think the absolute highlight of the England game was the commentator’s dry observation about Carlos Queiroz’s comment about past defeats: “I was not defeated. In football, we never lose. We win or we learn.” As […]

My 82-year-old father has a great voice – and I mean great. My slightly tone-deaf mother is the one in a choir, though, and they’re fab. Not technically brilliant, but the absolute joy of communal singing is t […]

Feel no shame, @atcf! I believe that car singing is genuinely therapeutic. If I’m in a car and the Beatles are on, I can’t help but sing, which probably explains why I drive alone 99% of the time. The genius of […]

Didn’t they split the songwriting credits four ways? A quick check confirms they did. They weren’t selling a Tears For Fears-esque number of records, so there’s probably not that much cash from sales/publishing. […]

A mate of mine is a big fan, and he got us tickets to see them a few years ago. As you point out, @seanioio, the audience is incredibly into it – I don’t think I’ve seen a more passionate fanbase.

Blazing miss by Senegal in the first half, and they hit the post. France are great but a bit top-heavy.