At the time of writing, Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film, “The Dark Knight”, sits as the number four greatest film of all time on IMDB’s top 250 list, only bested by “The Shawshank Redemption” and the first two “Godfather” films. It is one point ahead of “Pulp Fiction”. When everyone went crazy for the film upon […]
Football with the Taliban
It didn’t take me long to figure out that what I had on my hands was not exactly Brazil, 1970 vintage. “Come on, boys,” I said, trying to get into the swing of the whole football captaincy thing and doing an admittedly lame job of it. “If we beat these fuckers we can all go […]
The general election as seen through the prism of the original “Star Wars” trilogy
Given that watching the first Star Wars movie in the cinema when I was a wee lad had a defining influence on all of my future thought, it’s probably not all that surprising that I have the ability to see almost anything through the lens of George Lucas’ most prosperous creation. Take British politics: […]
What I like (and don’t like) about Morrissey
Morrissey, the former lead singer of the Smiths, is perhaps the ultimate love him or hate him character in the history of popular music. He inspires terrifying devotion and pathological dislike in equal measure. I recall Morrissey appearing on a talk show, Jonathan Ross I think, and my wife having to leave the room within […]
Chris Bryant v James Blunt: it’s tough to know who to support, really
I enjoyed the Bryant v Blunt twitter spat as much as anyone. It was nice to see a political social media argument where the gloves really came off, as opposed to the usual platitudinous nonsense these things usually conform to. My only dilemma revolved around to who to support. It’s human inclination to want to […]
“Paddington” – a review (and a defence of muscular liberalism)
I had read a lot of things about the new Paddington Bear film before sitting down on Saturday in the local cinema to watch it: that it had a pro-immigration subtext, that it was anti-UKIP propaganda, that it was an attempt by the liberal cognoscenti to brainwash little ones throughout the western world to believe […]
The Nutcracker – a review
I took my daughter, who is just shy of three years of age, to see “The Nutcracker” at the Royal Ballet last Sunday. This I plan to do ever year until she’s either an adult or decides to tell me she doesn’t really like ballet, whichever arrives first. Last year was the inaugural event in […]
Top five projected 2015 moments
These are things I hope will happen in the coming year. They are arranged in no particular order – the numbers are arbitrary. It’s all good. You will note a certain degree of optimism, at least from my perspective, in all of these predictions. It’s why I’ll add this caveat here: these aren’t so much […]
Saloth Sar goes to Paris
So the islanders loved my goddamn story so much, the big kahuna said he would give me whatever I wanted. I could have had John Daiquiri put to death if I so desired, but I had enough blood on my hands for one lifetime. Instead, I asked for Daiquiri’s boat, the one he sailed to […]
When Steph & Dom met Nigel Farage – a review
I turned on Channel 4 around 10 PM in order to watch a documentary piece about the leader of UKIP going to have a knees-up with two retired B&B owners in Sandwich. The first thing I heard as I did so was what sounded to me like Nigel Farage saying, “It will always be Great […]