BEST BEFORE: O Clacton! My Clacton!
If the Tories lived roughly nine lives while they were in power, it makes sense that this election they’ll die about nine deaths. It should have been over after Vote Leave, after Strong and Stable, after Partygate, after the Lettuce. But, like a supervillain kept alive solely for the money-
How to hold: Pina Bausch’s ‘Nelken’
Poster for Nelken, 1982 They bloomed before you, these 8000 carnations. You are outnumbered by flowers. You do not know whether they celebrate or eulogize. How could you know, with only one line in the programme to guide you? “For love is as strong as death, and its ardour terrible like hel
Queer love letters
Letter from Wilfred Owen to Siegfried Sassoon. (University of Aberdeen) In the enduring shadows of war, prejudice, and cultural turmoil, the resilience of queer love shines through. From the poignant letters of poets like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, to the clandestine journey undertak
Opposition in exile: in conversation with Ivan Zhdanov
I fiddle nervously with my computer. I’m waiting for Ivan Zhdanov, a leading figure of the modern Russian opposition, to join a Zoom call. I sit in my university bedroom, Zhdanov against the backdrop of his children’s playroom; talking about how Alexi Navalny’s murder has shaped the Russian op
Guest edit: The Tao of Trash
One of the most successful TV shows I ever produced was pure, throwaway trash of the highest order – and all the better for it. It was the first series of The Graham Norton Show, and it’s still going today, over 25 years later. The reason? Back in that first season in 1998, no […]
Orlando: from the West End to Magdalen gardens
I didn’t like the West End adaptation of Orlando when I saw it in January 2023. I was convinced the concept was all wrong, and Neil Bartlett, the play’s adaptor, was the guilty man behind the crime. I spent the entire journey home on the Central Line ranting to my mum about how goddamn [&
At what cost do we perform the ‘Cool Girl’ aesthetic?
Images: Me, in my best moments of performance. “The mob wife… is a little more grown up. It’s right there in the name: She’s a wife! She’s not a girl; she’s a woman” claims Harper’s Bazaar. Amazing news for anyone stuck living like it’s the 1950s. Because, as we all know, th
In conversation with: Oxford Action 4 Palestine Encampment
I walk into the Oxford Action (OA4P) for Palestine encampment at Pitt Rivers Museum; the path is littered with boards to keep the boggy ground at bay; a Palestinian flag greets me along the way with two massive whiteboards; one for the schedule of the day, and one for the list of chores to [&
BEST BEFORE: Mock-the-Week of an election
Last week’s announcement of a general election, given by Rishi Sunak in the pouring rain, will likely have put a damper on some people’s evenings (yes that is a water pun, yes I think I’m funny, yes there will be more). A week in, we’ve already had enough memorable moments to fill a scrapboo