It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on A Dose of Dandy, a lifestyle series hosted by two influencers who enjoy the finer things in life and seemingly want to live their lives as if in a PG Wodehouse novel. But is this satire or are they for real? www.ft.com/content/09b2...

Slightly more cheery: as part of the @FT's Life of a Song series, I wrote about the dark mysteries at the heart of the gorgeous Irish lament, She Moved Through the Fair. www.ft.com/content/10dd...

I'm a day late with this but here's my @FT pod column on Death on Dubai, an (almost intolerably) dark true crime series, with accompanying documentary film, about a young Ugandan woman forced into sex work in the UAE. www.ft.com/content/9760...

Aaand from last week, I wrote about Will Smith's snafu-filled comeback. The Fresh Prince just wants the world to love him again but he keeps in tripping up. This redemption arc is certainly unusual - but does the punishment fit the crime? www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Dream Space, the series hosted by Gemma Cairney which talks to artists of all genres about their creative lives. First up in the new season: Marina Abramović. www.ft.com/content/6f83...

For @the-independent.com I interviewed Adam Kay about his new crime thriller, A Particularly Nasty Case, the backlash to This is Going to Hurt, being de facto spokesperson for an ailing NHS and the joys of dining solo. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Instant Classics, the new series on the ancient world from Mary Beard and Charlotte Higgins. It's smart and funny and I enjoyed it hugely – apart from the video feature which is poor quality and pointless. www.ft.com/content/fd94...

I interviewed Cooper Hoffman, son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, for @theguardian.com. We talked about the joy of watching his dad on screen, his fears about following in Hoffman Sr's footsteps and his latest role in the dystopian horror, The Long Walk. www.theguardian.com/film/2025/au...

For @theipaper.com, here's my interview with Jacqueline Wilson about Picture Imperfect, an update of her classic The Illustrated Mum. We talked about difficult mothers (hers was atrocious), life in the countryside and the joys of late-blooming success. inews.co.uk/culture/book...

A day late with this but here's my @FT pod column on What Happened to Counter-Culture?, the Stewart Lee-hosted pod which, in its first ep, has a A+ story from Shirley Collins about the time Bob Dylan performed (badly) in London and then locked himself in the toilet. www.ft.com/content/b915...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on The Second Map, Kavita Puri's brilliantly researched and illuminating new series on WW2's eastern front and why the conflict with Japan is so often overlooked. www.ft.com/content/a273...

In today's @the-independent.com, I wrote about the bonkers new Netflix deal with the Sussexes. Why does the streamer want to shell out for a couple who produce one flop after another? Answer: in case they have another bust-up with fam. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Mistresses, a riotously funny new series on history's famous concubines and lovers hosted by Dr Kate Lister and Jameela Jamil. www.ft.com/content/0220...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column in the wild story that is Charlie's Place, a South Carolina nightclub that broke down racial barriers and invited Black and white patrons to mingle at the height of the Jim Crow era. www.ft.com/content/e489...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on the wonderfully soothing The Water Road, a new podcast about life chugging around British canals from former 6 Music newsreader Adam Porter. www.ft.com/content/e8c8...

Wrote this for @Independent on the Beeb's scandal-filled summer. Do better, BBC! www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Wondery's Flesh and Code, which investigates the rise of AI companions. The series built around the bravely revealing testimony of Travis, a fortysomething man from Denver, and his beloved chatbot inamorata, Lily Rose. www.ft.com/content/dc66...

It's Monday's so here's my @FT pod column on the blessed return of Alan Partridge. www.ft.com/content/1f54...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on a new Radiotopia Presents series, We're Doing The Wiz. It's about a high school music and a reckoning on race in small-town Massachusetts. www.ft.com/content/94de...

Interesting dress code for Rod's band. Men: comfortable, monochrome suits. Women: matching arse-skimming sequin dresses and high heels. Even for the HARPIST who must play with her instrument between her knees without flashing her kecks at the entire country.

In @the-independent.com, I had an incredibly wide-ranging chat with the absolute legend that is Gloria Estefan. We talked Trump, Castro, her father's disappearance, her decision to talk about her child sexual abuse – and why "Conga" is the ultimate Estebanger 💥 www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

A day late (again!) but here's my @FT column on a new pod tracing the history of the Ponzi scheme back to Charles Ponzi, an Italian-American who masterminded a scam involving postal coupons, stealing the equivalent of $250mn from investors. www.ft.com/content/c41b...

Celebrity book clubs - great for publishing and authors generally, right? Actually, no. If you want to find new reading material, you're better off asking the experts. My piece for @the-independent.com www.the-independent.com/arts-enterta...

Bit late with this, but I reviewed the new memoir by Molly Jong-Fast, daughter of Erica Jong, about her annus horribilus when illness and death visited her and her family. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

A day late but here's my @FT pod column on The Wargame, a new pod which gathers together ex-cabinet ministers and security experts to simulate a Russian military attack on Britain. Two episodes in & the defence strategy is a shitshow. Let's hope Putin isn't listening, eh? www.ft.com/content/c19a...

I wrote a quick tribute to the genius that was Brian Wilson, who I met twenty years ago and about whom you can glean a lot from the song "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times". Musically, he existed on a higher plane yet, spiritually, he couldn’t find peace. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

I wrote a quick tribute to the genius that was Brian Wilson, who I met twenty years ago and about whom you can glean a lot from the song "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times". Musically, he existed on a higher plane yet, spiritually, he couldn’t find peace. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on the new celeb interview series Rylan: How To Be in Love, which confirms its host as an interviewer par excellence. The conversation with Self Esteem, in particular, is brilliant. www.ft.com/content/d978...

"What has the ECHR ever done for us?" 🤔 [SOUND ON 🔊]

Brighton friends! I will be hosting a Q&A with Genesse P-Orridge following the Brighton screening of S/He Is Still Her/E, @davidas' remarkable documentary charting the life and times of the late Genesis P-Orridge. Sunday 15th June at the Duke of York's cinema. Come along!

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on The Smuggler, an eye-opening new BBC series about the business of human cargo featuring the testimony of "Nick", a builder-turned-people trafficker. www.ft.com/content/a125...

For today's @theipaper.com, I interviewed Adam Buxton about parents, podcasts, professional rivalries, his new memoir and his beloved dog, Rosie. He was delightful. inews.co.uk/culture/book...

For today's @theipaper.com, I spoke to Isabel Allende – novelist, philanthropist, now a limited-edition Mattel doll – about war, Trump and writing about family. The headline refers to the only time she saw her father, a scene that influenced the plot of her new novel. inews.co.uk/culture/book...

A day late, but here's my @FT pod column on Chasing the Sound, a smart and sweeping new podcast on music from around the globe by the mega-talented Kirk Flash. www.ft.com/content/1484...

I wrote about what Attenborough means to us and the impossible question of who should replace him. (Answer: not Tom Hanks) www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

I weighed up the delights and irritations of visualised podcasts, or vodcasts, for @theguardian.com. A brave new audiovisual frontier or merely “crap telly”? www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Half-Life, a beautiful written and produced story of wartime trauma, dark family secrets and radioactive toothpaste. www.ft.com/content/1a20...

I interviewed Moon Unit Zappa who was so open & articulate discussing life as the daughter of Frank Zappa & wife Gail - both neglectful narcissists who treated their kids as a wild liberal experiment. Her book Earth to Moon is a must-read. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on the new series from Katherine Ryan, What’s My Age Again? The show has an potentially strong theme as it measures guests' biological vs chronological ages, though it is yet to meaningfully explore it. www.ft.com/content/3fe5...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on the new Audible series, Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer. I thought I knew the story of JS but this insightful series by Fiasco's Leon Neyfakh digs deep and delivers some surprises. www.ft.com/content/6f3b...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on Windows, a new series about the view from Londoners' homes from producers Ivan d’Avoine and Derick Armah. The series is the latest on the brill Transmission Roundhouse, a network showcasing rising audio makers aged 18 to 25. www.ft.com/content/0328...

In today's @Independent, I wrote on the upcoming last season of The Handmaid's Tale and how this once brilliant and vital series lost its way. www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

In today's @guardianbooks.bsky.social, I reviewed Kate Mossman's Men of a Certain Age, a brilliant, funny and bracingly honest collection of the author's encounters with rock's male elders. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

For @guardian, I spoke to the writer & actors behind Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the upcoming series that plots the before, during and after of a shocking and avoidable tragedy – and the misinformation about De Menezes that lingers today. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

I'm a day late but here's my @FT pod column on Titanic: Ship of Dreams, a new pod about that little-known story of the ship that ran into an iceberg. It's actually a nicely made series only slightly marred by Paul McGann's OTT narration. www.ft.com/content/ff64...

Podcast people! I'm looking for your ***NEW*** pods launching in May and June for possible review in my FT column. Am interested in shows with unusual topics or doing something new and interesting with the form. Not so keen on wellness or person-interviews-guest-every-week pods. Thank you! 🎧🌟

I wrote about the inflated myth of SNL and the show's inability to distinguish between cutting-edge humour and meanness. www.independent.co.uk/voices/aimee...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on the Duchess of Sussex's new venture, Confessions of a Female Founder, in which sycophancy and mad psychobabble abound. www.ft.com/content/0ea8...

In @FT, I reviewed the new series of Doctor Who, which has some wobbly storytelling but a great new companion in Varada Sethu. And Ncuti Gatwa is still dazzlingly good. www.ft.com/content/1369...

It's Monday so here's my @FT pod column on the BBC's Crime Next Door: The Golden Toilet Heist, an unusually jolly and highly enjoyable true-crime series about the theft of artist Maurizio Cattelan's golden loo. www.ft.com/content/1f55...