As this story is released, the UK’s transitional deal with the EU will end, and we will step out, blinking and dazed, into a strange and unfamiliar world. For many of us, first the EEC and then the EU has been a low background thrum in our lives since childhood…
When I was at sixth form, a school friend of mine went down for an admissions interview to read PPE at Oxford¹. During the course of proceedings he was asked about the Rule of Law and whether it applies equally to everyone. …
Three years after last seeing them storm the Empire in Middlesbrough, Public Service Broadcasting are back on the road, promoting their latest album, Bright Magic.
It’s actually been a long time since I was in City Hall. In fact, 6 years to the day after seeing Harry & Paul there…
So, like everyone in the world and their dog, I have watched Squid Game, but in case you haven’t yet, there’ll be no major spoilers to ruin things for you. This is a thing that needs to unfold for you to fully appreciate.
Gi-hun is a deadbeat. He’s an inveterate…
I picked up Tom Hazeldine’s book on a whim while browsing in Waterstones in Newcastle, a city which crops up a fair amount on the course of his discussions about the fractious and complex relationship between the UK’s regions. Let’s be clear from the outset, it’s not exactly a light…
Just because you can make a film that is basically Buddhist Fast & Furious Highlander it really doesn’t mean you should.
Ok, ok. It’s Saturday afternoon, and I was bored, so it was either this or another cookery show. I decided to jump in, purely for the purposes of science…
Mark Thomas hasn’t been out much recently, he tells us early in the show. Neither have I, if we’re being honest. I’ve not been to ARC for over a year, but here I am, sitting in the stalls. But you can tell he’s been caged up, because he bounds out…
Keir Starmer has apparently published a pamphlet laying out his vision for a future Britain. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) he did this on the day the Prime Minster tried to lead an address on climate with a God-awful Muppet reference, and the current and previous…
Each year, around about this time, I write a little article (like for 2020, 2019, 2018, and 2017) that, just for a bit of fun, briefly points out the little disconnects in the generations between those of us working in HE, whether in teaching or in some other capacity, and…
A few nights ago I was watching a documentary about Jo Brand’s career and part of the discussion centred around what makes a comedian. Brand said that somewhere in most comedian’s lives is something tied to a sense of loss; there’s something missing that they are trying to make up…
