I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS

Continue reading >>

THINGS WRITTEN IN HOXTON

Continue reading >>

SPECIAL LADIES

ANOTHER TRIP TO CAMDEN, ANOTHER LOOK AT THE STREET ART CANVAS OF THAT MAN STU BAGS. ON THE LAST VISIT, WE SAW THAT STU WAS PASTING UP PICTURES OF THE IMPORTANT WOMEN IN THIS LIFE. THIS TIME WE CAN SEE HE'S GIVEN PRIDE OF PLACE TO THE SPECIALEST LADY OF ALL:

JUST AROUND THE CORNER, ANOTHER NICE FACE IS UP ON THE WALL. WHO IS SHE? WHO IS NIKO? DID NIKO STICK THIS PICTURE TO THE WALL? ANYONE KNOW?

Continue reading >>

FISH OUT OF WATER

If you were asked to imagine the audience at a Sandi Toksvig gig in a provincial theatre, you might be thinking in terms of a comfy sort of crowd: couples passing from their middle years towards a pleasant twilight of pottering in the garden, of doing the crossword and of doing their bit on the parish council, in the charity shop or at the jumble sale. Fans of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and Just a Minute, they take their seats, looking forward to an evening of cosily familiar chuckles. You might spot the odd younger person here and there. Perhaps a dutiful son or daughter accompanying a parent on an evening out. Like young Luke Roberts, chaperoning his mum at Toksvig's gig in Dunstable last night:

But I wonder what Luke really made of the restrained whimsy, the gentle guffaws and the polite decency of his fellow audience members. Wasn't he bored? Didn't it all seem a bit tame and dull? I only ask because the persona presented by Luke's Twitter presence suggests a character whose taste in jokes and whose approach to discourse is a bit at odds with the vibe of an evening with Sandi Toksvig:

Continue reading >>

WEST HAM: GREAT WIN, UGLY TAUNTS

I'm not about to wade into the complexities of the debate over the use of the word Yid at White Hart Lane.  I have strong views on the subject, but limited time in which to express them right now. Another time, perhaps. In the meantime, I merely present some of what passes for banter in the minds of some West Ham fans.

Almost exactly a year ago, I felt genuine revulsion when a fellow QPR supporter used Twitter to tell the world that the song he'd most enjoyed singing last season was one containing a reference to gas chambers and directed at the Spurs crowd. I was at the match at which he claimed to have delivered this chant and I am pleased to say that I didn't hear it - and didn't hear anything else similar. The words of that one fellow Rangers supporter aside, my Twitter timeline (I follow several hundred QPR fans) has also remained mercifully clear of tweets with an anti-Semitic tone on the occasions my team has played Tottenham over the last couple of years. So it is to be hoped that he was singing alone. Among the West Ham fan base, though, many more people seem to believe this sort of stuff is not beyond the pale. Yesterday's impressive Hammers win has not brought out the best in some followers of the East London club:

Continue reading >>