The Count: The (White) House always wins
The more observant cosmopolitans among you may have noticed that a country across the world called the “United States” will be having an election soon. Now, there’s no reason why provincial affairs like that would affect a centre of world influence like the UK, but for curiosity’s sak
Heathers: partial notes from an impartial observer
There are two types of people when it comes to musical theatre: those who grew up going to stagecoach every weekend, learning the entire scores of musicals from Wicked to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and won’t shut up about it, and those who just passionately loathe it. I te
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Liberty Mountain
‘Owl, Whittled’ If I had much say in the matter, I would not have wasted any of my summer whittling. It is not an art form I have any future prospects with, and little wooden creatures (whilst sweet) are not in any way important. Yet for a couple of weeks [
Icon of the Week: Bighandsandallgristly
It’s never entirely clear whether the members of Bighandsandallgristly are giving a straight answer. Comprised of Helena Emmett (violin, mostly), Cordelia Wilson (keys, mainly), and Ben Scott-Warren (guitar, generally), it’s at least apprehensible that this is a new-ish three-piece band o
PRESSURE POINT – Cartoonishly evil: refugees and the new centre ground of British politics
On 11th October, Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick thought he popped off. In a stint on LBC, he almost (!) expressed regret for removing cartoon murals from a wall in a migrant reception centre. For those who haven’t been keeping up with this epic tale of woe (honestly, good f
The secret history of silly animals
It’s not often that a real, substantial revolution happens, one that really changes the world for good. No propaganda campaigns or great persuasive efforts or squabbling political committees needed, just an event so fundamental you didn’t even notice it was happening—and now you can nev
The Comedy of Successes
I first encountered The Comedy of Errors on a Shakespeare reading list, the only play successfully crammed into the last week of my Hilary vacation. At the time, my only takeaway was the ability to claim having ‘made a start’ on my reading without brazenly lying to my tutor. Seeing it in
Icon of The Week: Will Shackleton
For the past week, every time I’ve mentioned that I’m writing my Icon of the Week about Will Shackleton, I’ve received one of two responses: “Oh, I love Will Shackleton!” or “Who is Will Shackleton?” With those mixed reactions in mind, I sat down with Will determined to answer t
PRESSURE POINT – JD Vance: America’s unlikely heartthrob?
Last week I came across a Substack article entitled “Women Across America Just fell in Love With JD Vance”. I’m relatively new to Substack (I know – late to the party!) and a pretty infrequent user, so don’t fall into the same algorithm-generated echo chamber that dominates all my o