"Terrible things started happening to boys who wandered on to bombsites in British films..." thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/21/f...

On the centenary of Kenneth Williams's birth, let's celebrate his encounter with Glaswegian socialist Jimmy Reid, "a reminder that intelligence and civility once shared the same studio space and that we were all the richer for it". thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...

"So dangerous did bombsites become for boy actors that Jon Whiteley ventured on to them twice and got caught up with a murderer both times." I've written another piece for Lion & Unicorn blog: @lionunicorn.bsky.social

"There will be no further large scale permanent immigration..." A quick guide to the manifesto promises made on immigration by each government elected in 1964-2024. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/18/i...

"Our larder isn’t sticking in you, is it?" Happy birthday to Mike Leigh, who's 83 today. Here's @benfinlay74.bsky.social on his classic play "Nuts in May". thelionandunicorn.com/2026/01/10/n...

"Kizzy catches pneumonia, is threatened with being put into care, is bullied and physically attacked, and sees her beloved horse die of old age..." @benfinlay74.bsky.social on 1970s children’s television that evokes "the weird, old Albion"👇 thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/04/3...

"Our philosophy is simple: if you are ready to work hard and there is work for you to do, then you are welcome here…" A guide to what every incoming government since 1964 said about immigration in their manifestos. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/18/i...

"If you mourn the absence of Palmer-like attributes & find the narrative incomprehensible, still read this novel for the way it brings to life the early 1960s, the pre-Beatles era of steam trains, soot & the death penalty" On Len Deighton, 97 today👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/r...

Tonight on Channel 4, THE TONY BLAIR STORY (2026), starring Tony Blair. www.channel4.com/programmes/t...

"By sundown on the Sabbath you will have seen Londoners of many shapes, sizes and sorts. And perhaps you will have captured them on movie film and immortalised them on recording tape" — Len Deighton (born #OTD in 1929) thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2022/02/27/r...

"If you mourn the absence of Palmer-like attributes & find the narrative incomprehensible, still read this novel for the way it brings to life the early 1960s, the pre-Beatles era of steam trains, soot & the death penalty" On Len Deighton, 97 today👇 thelionandunicorn.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/r...

"The claim that ‘no one voted for mass immigration’ has been heard for decades. Is it true?" @alwynturner.bsky.social on 60 years of promises on immigration.👇

#BOTD Len Deighton celebrates his 97th birthday today... time to rewatch The Truth about Len Deighton: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0074s2q via @bbciplayer

"Never trust a man who owns a sex guide. There are some things you should know how to do without reading a manual." thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/07/h...

Dandruff, Gluggo, Ass... These and many more are to be found among my 70 favourite album titles of the 1970s. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/14/a...

A happy 65th birthday to Food Security Minister, Angela Eagle. Her career hasn't always run smoothly: "Blair forgot Home Office minister Angela Eagle existed, gave someone else her job and effectively sacked her from the government by mistake." thelionandunicorn.com/2016/07/03/v...

"It must be a function of the State in future to ensure adequate total outlay and by consequence to protect its citizens against mass unemployment"- William Beveridge. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Liberal England: See Charles Hawtrey and Joan Hickson staffing St Pancras in 1955

Tonight on YouTube, THE MALTA STORY (1953), starring Alec Guinness & Jack Hawkins. youtu.be/ow_J9KHLhpA

Tonight on YouTube, THE PRISONER (1955), starring Alec Guinness & Jack Hawkins. youtu.be/rpvVVVDoWGs

Tonight on YouTube, A MURDER OF QUALITY (1991), starring Denholm Elliott as George Smiley. youtu.be/ZRAGRawq-84

"The stories are free of predictable narrative, engaging with the past and encouraging the viewer to make up their own mind." Bagpuss first aired today in 1974. I wrote a bit about it for my article on weird kids' tv:

"For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night" @alwynturner.bsky.social selects his 70 favourite album titles from the 1970s. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/14/a...

Liberal England: John Osborne, Desert Island Discs and No Room at the Inn #theatre

Bad Bunny

Not only a review in Private Eye, but also a caricature! How marvellous!

"I want every anarchist, commie, trotskyist, pinko, leftie, greasy-bastard student rounded up and brought in..." What we learn from "Ashes to Ashes". thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/07/h...

Starmer's intemperate response to Davey — ducking the question & instead lambasting the Lib Dem leader for the austerity politics of 2010-15 — struck me as deeply ill judged. These scandals involve child abuse. Resorting to the usual knockabout tactics looks terrible.

Bad Bunny

Tonight on BBC iPlayer, SCREEN TWO 'The Absence of War' (1995), starring John Thaw. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

"The songs are rebellious and haunting, auditory messages from the past..." My new article celebrating weird drama from the golden age of kids' TV. @lionunicorn.bsky.social

Jestermaxxing

Labour hasn't held a leadership election whilst in power since 1976 (pace Gordon). The spectacle of the rivals to succeed Starmer vying for the votes of MPs & members so unrepresentative of the country — with the full attention of the media — could be very dangerous (and a hoot). wp.me/p6lzJb-2Fs

"These ’ere pacifists never done nobody no good." The Four Just Men (Walter Forde, 1939) thelionandunicorn.com/2026/01/15/s...

"As Stewart Lee said, ‘there was something really comforting for nerds and weirdos about programmes like Children of the Stones and The Changes'." @benfinlay74.bsky.social on these and other curios of kids' TV. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/04/3...

"I’ve seen a bloke from Billericay balance a budgerigar on his Hampton Wick..." NEW: On the anniversary of the first broadcast of Ashes to Ashes on 7 Feb 2008, here's my episode guide. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/07/h...

"And this is for children?" @benfinlay74.bsky.social on some highlights from the days of weird kids' TV. thelionandunicorn.com/2026/02/04/3...

MEGLOS: Flies trapped in amber! Not even Frasier Crane can escape a Channel Four loop. GRUGGER: What? MEGLOS: I've caught him inside a fold of time. GRUGGER: Huh? MEGLOS: His only respite is the short ad break at 9.37am when he loops back to the start. Round and round.... for all eternity!

Rumours are confirmed that yes, I indeed have a new article coming out on the internet's finest website tomorrow. @lionunicorn.bsky.social

Appropriate time to repost, me thinks.

Goodbye England’s rose

Tonight on BBC iPlayer, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (1979)📺, starring Hilary Minster. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

"Yeah, it’s 50 years old. Yeah, it’s shot on video. Yeah, the snow is polystyrene. But now every time the plum tree scrapes against the window in a breeze, our family share a knowing look" @mykebartlett.bsky.social on why WHO should always be an adventure for kids. open.substack.com/pub/genxchan...

DOCTOR WHO opinion: In the 1987 serial 'Dragonfire', the character Ace is rightly dismissed from her job as a waitress on grounds of misconduct.

JW Matthew Sweet interviewing Louise Jameson. "So cast your mind back, if you will, to the heady days of 1977. The Invisible Enemy part two. Leela and her identical clone. Were they at it?"

🎶Optrex, Optrex, Naaaah, nah, nah, nah, Optrex🎶

Milimas gets earlier every year

Time's Campion

Same energy

I love it when Hartnell wears a Panama hat. It's his Dalek-fighting hat.