Monthly Archives: August 2012

I’m still in a daze after seeing Seth MacFarlane take Ronnie Scott’s by storm last night, with a little help from the house orchestra. It was just about a perfect package: classy singing (much punchier than on his newly-released album), … Continue reading →

Echoes of Michael Young… The ever-readable Ta Nehisi-Coates — outsider turned insider, almost —  reflects on status and self-interest: I’m making my way through Chris Hayes’ astounding “Twilight of The Elites”, one of those rare books that originates from a … Continue reading →

And class raises its head in the new Zadie Smith too. Ron Charles reviews a “brilliant” novel in the Washington Post: As the story unfolds, we learn that Leah and the ragged woman in her hallway were raised in the … Continue reading →

Philip Hensher on the novels that deserve to be rediscovered by TV drama producers. Good to see Sam Selvon’s “The Lonely Londoners” making the list — it’s a terrific snapshot  of the Windrush era. (On a par with Colin MacInnes’s … Continue reading →

Fine Indy column by C4 Paralympics presenter Alex Brooker: When I see someone in a wheelchair, even I do a double-take. And as someone who has a prosthetic leg, when I see someone not wearing their legs I think “Oh … Continue reading →

The Borowitz Report has to be a contender: “Romney Hailed as Regular Guy by Woman with Horse in Olympics”. Class war, yes, but the rest of the dispatch is still funny: In a small flub that many delegates found endearing, Mrs. … Continue reading →

Yet another song I had to ban from my iPod while driving in Corsica. And, yes, it’s Serge again. “Ford Mustang” has to be one of the quintessential records of the Sixties; you can just imagine hipsters putting the vinyl … Continue reading →

Pete Hoskin’s thoughtful essay on the pros and cons of home-working. I trust he had his clothes on when he wrote it…

One of the pieces I missed while I was on holiday was Daniel McCarthy’s post on the decline and fall of America’s conservative intellectual movement: “Conservative” once signified an intellectual tendency with partisan overtones, now it signifies a partisan tendency … Continue reading →

The FT’s Chris Cook unearths a cutting from the days of Supermac. The one about SuperDenis is almost as eloquent. As for poor Daphne’s hopes of a gay marriage, no chance: Tony Curtis has spoken.