I like King Crimson. I don’t like most of everything else which gets called prog. I think it’s mainly because my tastes in pop music generally require joy or aggression or a groove or all three, and most of the […]

(Addendum: I actually had a pretty blissful first lockdown. Lost about 5 stone, got properly seriously fit. I was on the run-out groove of my previous job, getting ready to start a new one in Sept, and so I had no […]

I’d agree about the kids. Current y12 seem pretty sorted. Current y13 can’t do anything. They’re the ones for whom it broke in y9, and so that all-important y10 year, where they do so much of their becoming, was a […]

If I want plot, I’ll watch TV. I go to novels for character, language, the slow cook. (Incidentally this is often true of really good TV too: The Wire doesn’t have a plot, and the season which does is com […]

Good to see you here, Chiz, old son. I don’t really do this place any more – no hard feelings – but there’s a couple of genuine mates still around and I count you as one. Sounds like it’s been a tough couple of ye […]

Oh do stop it, for fuck’s sake.

I think Russellty is a once-good writer now trading entirely off past glories, and if everything he’s done since, say, “Turn Left” is any guide, most of his inspiration arrives up a rolled-up £20. I watched the in […]

I enjoyed it, but depends how tolerant you are of sudden and slightly whimsical genre left-turns

It’s a lovely performance but like all film Mr Bennets, gets the character wrong. That’s more the fault of the script than the acting, though.

Yeah, the “it’s ok when we do it” crowd really are one of the worst things about modern armchair politics. Farage is a turd and also nobody should be assaulted, and if someone can’t hold those two ideas in their h […]

Labour. It shouldn’t be about the personality of the leader, but as it goes I think Starmer is a grown-up with real-world experience of hard graft and serious leadership of a complex organisation. He’s also rut […]

Espresso-based coffees which aren’t espresso itself or a *really* good cappuccino can get in the bin, and since the latter is hard to do right and I don’t take milk except on rare occasions, my default is a fil […]

Thanks Dai – a much more accessible format!

This is about his enthusiasm for child porn*, about which he not only spoke (in graphic detail) in an interview, but also doubled down on (in further and sickening detail) in a Big Black tour diary. We’re not t […]

You might need a Twitter account.

I’ve helpfully provided a link.

Made some indelibly great records which I will love forever. Was also, unfortunately, an extremely bad person which – if he had different indie cred and political stances – would see many of the same people […]

Education policy and debate is largely based on vibes. Everyone went to school, including ministers, and so everyone has an opinion, which is usually based on 30 year-old experiences which are literally, […]

It’s Bleak House. Google it yourselves. But it would be shame to miss out the succeeding 3-4 paragraphs too.

The Tories are very committed to the Bad Quarto(er* of voters who might still consider voting for them) *it’s actually 19% on today’s polling, but I couldn’t make even the weakest Hamlet pun on “under a fifth”