A different angle on the Go-Betweens themusic.com.au/features/the...

This Paul McCartney song got under my skin. I asked Peter Asher, of Peter and Gordon, to tell me all about it. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Watching Live Aid, I now want to ask The Edge about minimalism.

Chris Mason of the BBC (and the BBC News) are so embedded in the framing of Farage that they can’t even see it anymore.

So, West Ham fans - as you wait for the Irons to sell their best players in order to buy some worse ones, here’s my gallery from the great days of Green Street and Upton Park. (Now, Mr Sullivan, a fit centre forward, please).

Chris Mason of the BBC, I put it to you that you are overexcited.

Say it with me. RFK Jr. is killing children.

Thought For The Day. How can we have any hope of sorting out any of the world’s problems when no one is brave enough to sort out the insulting monstrosity that is Thought For The Day on the R4 Today programme? Make it stop! Free my ears!

In his new book, Arthur Baker suggests that Tony Wilson was “David Frost meets Donald Trump.” This is terrifying, obviously, but I wouldn’t mind watching David Frost interview Trump, Nixon-style.

A reprise (with some new bits) of one of my favourite interviews (as Sir Rod prepares for Glastonbury). open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

I enjoyed this (very) long profile of the PM, and the revamped New Statesman looks good. However, the correct cover line would be Hellbent On Compromise, which is a) true b) a good thing and c) an Edwyn Collins reference.

When the new chair of Reform is called David Bull, you know that Martin Amis is writing the news.

Good to see the Daily Telegraph admitting to the devastation of Thatcherism.

Why does the BBC news behave like a Nigel Farage fanzine?

Andy Warhol in Rapid Eye Movement fanzine, 1980.

I had a spectral encounter with some old records. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

well, this is good. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m...

well, this is good. www.theguardian.com/music/2025/m...

This is a great listen. My current hope is that Gary Lineker takes over the Daily Telegraph. Failing that, ITV should give him an interview show. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

I took a lot of pictures when West Ham played at Upton Park. Some of them are here. lowerblock.com/articles/wes...

I’ve revisited a chat I refereed between Damon Albarn and Thomas (Festen) Vinterberg. It’s a reflective discussion on the friction between art and politics in a time of conflict. It feels pretty current. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Top 20

Yes, Yobs. I wrote about Slade. Please share it around. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

I wrote about photographer Dennis Morris (Bob Marley, Sex Pistols, PiL, the whole punky reggae shebang). It is free ro read. Please share it. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Have you noticed that the presenters on Antiques Roadshow are getting younger? open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

I revisited an encounter with the artist Jack Vettriano, who died recently. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

Ladies, form an orderly queue. I wrote about my love of Celtic in what must qualify as more innocent times. It’s in the new Nutmeg magazine. @nutmegmagazine.bsky.social

Justin Webb on Radio Four is a good advert for Radio Three.

A guest post on my substack celebrating 30 years of the great indie label Creeping Bent. Please share, punks. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

This is an absolute heartbreaker. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

do you fancy hearing 22 minutes of Pete Shelley & Steve Diggle of Buzzcocks chatting on Radio Forth in 1979? Be my guest. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

The great Alex Harvey would have been 90 today. He would have had things to say. (NB this post contains “language” so don’t open it if you’re going to offended.) open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

This is an incredibly sneaky way to replace potentially (mildly) critical media with abject bootlickers. I suppose we should expect this to be repeated elsewhere in government

Never argue with an idiot.

here’s where AI lets you down. It’s actually Brighton’s Evan Ferguson who is linked with West Ham.

Just had a 90 minute dental appointment. Worst ever. The drill, the pain, the Coldplay soundtrack. To cope with it, I dreamed up the ideal dental accessory - noise cancelling headphones with your own soundtrack which the dentist’s voice can override. Do I need to go on Dragon’s Den now?

Woke up from a nightmare with a line from White Riot in my head. “All the power’s in the hands of the people rich enough to buy it.” Woke up to a nightmare. “If Adolf Hitler flew in today, they’d send a limousine anyway.”

“The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”

commonplace algorithmic baloney spotted on previously reputable website

RIP David Lynch

Beautifully poignant portrait of Peel legend Ivor Cutler @alastairmckay.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

I spoke to Ivor Cutler for two hours in 1994. Revisiting the cassette was a treat. open.substack.com/pub/alastair...

happy birthday, elvis!

Journalism needs to have a chat with itself. Elon Musk is dictating the British political agenda and his views are relevant only because he is the richest man in the world who owns and controls a corrosive social media outlet. He is responsible to no one. He supports right wing extremists.

Happy new year.

Jolly fun on BBC Radio 4’s PM programme as Evan Davis normalises the idea of Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister. Might be more newsy to investigate where his money comes from.