What Jeremy meant was that he listens to the Queen’s Speech on Radio 4 in the morning when he starts boiling the sprouts for dinner at 3pm.

Er, Jeremy Lenin was a fan of East Germany when the Stasi was watching those dangerous subversives, hippie eco types, punks, and teenage boys in Iron maiden t-shirts (see the Stasi museum in east Berlin). Has his […]

In a half-century of listening to people discuss politics, I have never heard or read exchanges like the above that have led to subsequent greater clarity and mutual understanding between the parties involved, […]

My thoughts, too. Public Intellectuals ain’t what thry were. ‘relevance’ and adhd editing has done for it. At least we still have R4’s ‘in our time’.

These days I think GG are more interesting than the stadium progressive bands, who are over-exposed. GG’s music was complexity itself, but full of verve and originality. I already have most of the released stuff […]

Ta! I think Hawkwind use whatever kit is in the venue along with their own, and in Birmingham town hall there were no spotlights whatsoever. quite a good idea as it makes every show spontaneous.

You can miniaturise the gear quite a bit. I saw hawkwind at the weekend and their lightshow (very good, as ever) comprised one projector and two ever-busy lasers. it would fit in one smallish flight case. I saw […]

Series 7 of “Steptoe and Son”: almost all genius. it also has the night prisoners break in and decide nick is better (the desperate hours”), and the funeral episode. And the one with the rude scrabble board when […]

Now this is one I can see

Harold Steptoe – Remain
Albert Steptoe – Leave

Cue Albert in full pre-war English patriot mode and dim stereotypes about foreigners, whilst Harold is aspiring to sophistication […]

Two countries, innit? Reflects the decline in local media for local people (as it were), IMHO.

I’m part of the 5% liberal elite currently working his way through today’s “Observer” but even I think listening to the Beeb is sometimes like being hit round the head with a rolled up copy of “The Guardian”. […]

Even them. You don’t keep power like that without quality Machiavellianism. Huge amounts of unpleasantness and infelicity are buried by persons who should be sharing it. If we must have a symbolic head to avoid […]

Andy’s thick as shit in a bottle and making a “dog ate homework” excuse that collapses when faced with scrutiny. In my opinion. Allegedly.

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is Andy. As he can’t sweat, he shouldn’t be travelling to all those hot places like Phuket, Dubai, and Rio, and definitely not standing out on those tropical golf courses in […]

4 pints? I’ll never get any sleep.

it’s Yes. What’s wrong with “overblown”?

Totally, Barge. I can’t imagine what was going on there in terms of quality control. “Heaven and Earth” makes “Open Your Eyes” look like “Relayer”. I think it comes down to this: there are many conservative […]

I took my late son to this one when he was 13. He enjoyed it and said the singer was channelling James Brown (not quite, but Benoit David used to do a twirly dance like some variant on hippy responses to the […]

They used to be the “Living Marxism” crowd. Reflects the horseshoe theory of political extremes. Imagine: the self-righteousness of what were smart-arse media / academic Marxists, combined with the […]

And here we are: followed the rabbit down the hole and there it was.