Radio
Spectator Play: what’s worth watching, listening to or going to this weekend
It feels like the only film anyone’s been talking about recently is The Great Gatsby. Given that even the release of the films’ multiple trailers created international news stories, it… Continue reading
3 Comments![Arts Montage7[2]](http://cdn2.spectator.co.uk/files/2013/04/Arts-Montage72-140x91.jpg)
Spectator Play: Audio and video for what we’ve reviewed this week
If you succumbed to Downton fever, then the BBC’s latest period-drama, The Village, might have attracted your attention. But if it was Downton Revisited that you were after, you might… Continue reading
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William Hague works on the government’s women problem
It beat the baseball cap. William Hague’s trip to the DRC and Rwanda created several wonderful photo opportunities with no less a figure than Angelina Jolie. It would be wrong… Continue reading
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In praise of Plum
This blog post is not going to say anything original. You’ll have read it all before. Its sole purpose is to convince you that P.G. Wodehouse is the master so… Continue reading
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Writing of walking
At 3pm this afternoon Radio 4’s Ramblings with Clare Balding will broadcast a programme about The Walking Book Club, to which Emily Rhodes belongs. ‘I love walking in London,’ said… Continue reading
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Any suggestions for ‘Any Questions’?
I’m doing Radio 4′s ‘Any Questions?’ tonight with Harriet Harman and Simon Hughes. It’s a strange news week, in which almost anything could come up. But I wondered if Spectator… Continue reading
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Thank you, Christopher Martin-Jenkins
The children who grew up when Christopher Martin-Jenkins began to commentate on cricket (both in print and on the air) have got old. CMJ’s 40-odd year career has been brought… Continue reading
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Previewing my Week in Westminster
I’m presenting Week in Westminster at 11am on Radio Four today, and get to choose four topics for discussion. My political nodes were, of course, amputated for the purposes of… Continue reading
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Letts for DG
How does Quentin Letts for Director General of the BBC sound to CoffeeHousers? He’s certainly putting himself forward, and in the latest issue of The Spectator he lays out what… Continue reading
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My week in Westminster
I’m presenting Radio Four’s Week in Westminster this morning, on deficit wars, London wars, welfare wars, and another set of wars which no one has really discussed yet: the directly-elected police commissioners.… Continue reading
46 CommentsA day of gaffes
You really couldn’t make this up: it wasn’t Michael Moore’s PPS who was on the World at One resigning but someone impersonating him. The actual PPS, Michael Crockart, is still… Continue reading
21 CommentsNaughty Naughtie
James Naughtie with some very improper language on the Today Programme this morning. NSFW, and all that. You have been warned:
43 CommentsThe BBC and other Great British Anachronisms
I suspect Rod Liddle’s analysis of the BBC and, more especially still, the mentality of its top brass is acute and persuasive: My suspicion is that it will become increasingly… Continue reading
25 CommentsThe Darling deception
Alistair Darling normally strikes us as an honest man dropped into an impossible situation. But whether he misspoke, or whether he set out to mislead, he told a lie on… Continue reading
19 CommentsCameron’s licence fee cut – and how he’ll pay for it
All hail, Jeremy Hunt, the axe man. Cameron’s first tax cut will be a licence fee cut* – and Hunt is planning to axe some stations to pay for it. … Continue reading
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