Category Archives: Media
I sense a disturbance. Everything that’s missing from The Last Jedi (some SPOILERS so see it first!!)
The scroll screen could have been written for Ep VII. As if nothing has happened. First rule of sequels: Take the story on. What’s the new line? Please hire me to write proper copy in future. Leia is unconscious for … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Film, Media, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Tagged adam driver, carrie fisher, culture, daisy ridley, Disney, errol flynn, film, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood, john boyega, kylo ren, luke skywalker], princess leia, star wars, the last jedi
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Filth, fury and the funny way Britain feels about Joe Orton
You never forget your first time. I was 19 years old. I descended into a dark, cramped basement where student actors brought to life a weird, twisted sexual triangle. Going to student drama productions in odd spaces around the University … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Crime and Justice, Culture, Film, Media, Radio, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, crime, culture, dr emma parker, elitism, film, joe orton, john lahr, kenneth halliwell, Kenneth Williams, Leicester, leonie orton, literature, London, prick up your ears, satire, sheila hancock, soft touch arts, tv
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Oh Boy! Why certain Radio 1 DJs are missing believed wiped
If you sat down to watch a night of lost pop music TV shows from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, what would you expect to find? Fun, nostalgia, eye popping colour and experimentation, some great music. What I didn’t expect … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, Media, Music, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged 50s, 60s, 70s, BBC, culture, david hamilton, debbie harry, Hot Gossip, jack good, jimmy savile, media, music, oh boy!, pete murray, top of the pops, totp, tv
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The making of The Stars of Sergeant Pepper
What are Mae West and Diana Dors doing on the cover of Sergeant Pepper’ Lonely Hearts Club band? If you feel you’ve heard too much already about the 50th anniversary of  the record, then fear not. Producer Luke Doran (who … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, Media, Music, Religion, Uncategorized
Tagged 60s, beatles, culture, Hollywood, media, music, Sergeant Pepper
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The poison that is destroying civility and how to fight it
âHow did you get into first class? You donât deserve to be in first class. âYou should be in common class. In fact, you shouldnât be in this country at all. âYou donât deserve to be here. âšBloody foreigners. Where … Continue reading
Posted in Crime and Justice, Culture, journalism, Media, Politics, Theatre
Tagged alexander mackinnon, BIG ISSUE, faisal islam, gina miller, jo cox, john bercow, John Major, monday club, Racism, sanaa shahid, this house
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How to win the coming culture war in 2017
A version of this article first appeared in The Big Issue magazine in January 2017. Journalism worth paying for. Available weekly from street vendors or subscriptions here. History rarely falls into neat numerical decades. I would assert the 1980s (yuppies, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comics/graphic novels, Culture, Film, Media, Music, Politics, Radio, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Theatre, TV, Uncategorized
Tagged ali smith, BIG ISSUE, books, cinema, culture, culture war, Disney, dr quinn medicine woman, dreamgirls, everbody's talking about jamie, feminism, film, FTW, henry krieger, Hollywood, jane seymour, jon musker, media, moana, pauline boty, politics, rogue one, ron clements, susan faludi, tv, tyrus wong, unforgotten, Wonder Woman
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How should broadcast news journalists interview and talk about extremists?
Over the weekend I spoke to veteran ex BBC journalist Robin Lustig, Berlin correspondent Damien McGuinness for an insight into Germany’s media and Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s 2012 senior strategist for 2 articles I wrote for The Guardian and The … Continue reading
Posted in Germany, journalism, Media, Politics, Radio, Religion, TV
Tagged AfD, alt right, BBC, Berlin, BIG ISSUE, Damien McGuinness, Donald Trump, journalism, Luegenpresse, media, Mitt Romney, Nazism, Newswatch, Nigel Farage, Pegida, politics, Robin Lustig, Stuart Stevens, terrorism, tv
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Ladybird books: Constructing the future past of modern Britain
I used to visit a beloved university English professor and his wife. He had won the Military Cross for hand to hand combat in the liberation of the Netherlands in 1945 but never talked about the terrible things heâd seen. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Children, Culture, Design, Environment, Germany, History, Media, Uncategorized, War
Tagged 60s, Bachelor of Hearts, books, conway hall, culture, Hardy Kruger, Ladybird books, media, michael balcon, politics, publishing, Sylvia Syms, war, wolf rilla
23 Comments
We’ll get the President we deserve: Suzan Lori Parks on Hillary Clinton & America’s woman problem
“You’ve consumed too much of the Kool-Aid that the man has been serving you.” Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Susan Lori Parks came into the Front Row studio last week to talk about When Father Came Home From The Wars opening at … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, History, Media, Politics, Radio, Theatre, Uncategorized, War
Tagged American Civil War, culture, feminism, Hillary Clinton, media, politics, Suzan Lori Parks, Theatre Royal Stratford, US politics, war
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Lessons for Trump and us all from the Ronald Reagan Memorial Library
âI wonder what itâs all about, and why We suffer so, when little things go wrong? We make our life a struggle When life should be a songâŠâ We should perhaps we grateful that the teenage Ronald Reagan never grew … Continue reading
Posted in History, journalism, Media, Politics
Tagged 80s, BIG ISSUE, Donald Trump, politics, Ronald Reagan
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