Just a bunch of lemmings, aren’t we? When the economy was va va voom it was all about being new, and history was bunk. Now it’s in the toilet, with even venerable names going belly up, every advertiser in Britain seems to be lining up to reassure us how long it’s been around. Selfridges’ celebration [...]

At The Specials reunion concert at Brixton on Saturday, you didn’t have to be male, over 40 and balding… …but it certainly helped. By the way, I think that The Specials playing live should become our leading economic indicator. Think about it: their heyday was 1979 to around 1981, a period when the economy was [...]

INT. MOTHER BLACK CAP. PUBLIC HOUSE. DAY This is an Irish pub. The bar is full of men. Only two women in here and they look like men. Faces like rotten beetroots. It’s a horrible place. Shit-coloured formica. Carpet like the surface of a road. The atmosphere is rank with smoke and Irish accent. WITHNAIL [...]

While we’re on the subject of Magners, I confess myself to be baffled by their latest campaign. I thought that the burning issues currently exercising the collective mind were things like the collapse of the global economy, the avarice of our parliamentary representatives and why Arsenal won’t ever spend decent money on central defenders. But [...]

A couple of months back I got a call from Peter Mead asking if we could help out a friend. Her name was Polly Tommey. She ran a magazine called The Autism File and had been given hundreds of 48 sheets free, but didn’t know what to do with them. She spoke passionately for two [...]