The Plashing Vole

This Be The Verse adapted with no apologies from Philip Larkin's original , in honour of the new regimes in the USA, Britain, India, ...

I'll keep this one brief.  A lot of people active on social media think that BBC political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg is biased, ...

The resignation of Jamie Reed  MP to spend more time with his mildly radioactive money was hailed on the right as evidence that 'sensib...

Last year's end-of-term report seems so sweetly naive now. There I was in a deserted office (just like today, only it's a different...

This week I have mostly been going to cultural stuff. And watching my friends and colleagues marking essays. As I'm on a sabbatical (cou...

I just got an email from the Birmingham branch of the Glee Club, a chain of comedy venues. Something didn't look quite right. Can you ...

This week has mostly been dominated – at the risk of sounding like the egregious Martin Amis – by my teeth. I'm part way through a dent...

Who am I? According to my spam folder for Nov 10th-15th I am: a heterosexual woman unsatisfied by her boyfriend's small penis a lon...

This is my last comment on the US election for now. Though I'm sure I'll get sucked back in before long: I liked the Joe Biden p...

What can I say? Everyone else has weighed in on this week's landslide of misery: Kate prescribes kindness and listening. Others counsel...

Sometimes only cut-up poetry can capture the tenor of our times. Core access. Crooked Donald. The Hillary. Older than they look. Back ...

This has been a whirlwind week of literal and intellectual travel, hence my relative absence. A week ago almost to the hour – a treat partly...

I've read a couple of detective novels recently, part of my effort to familiarise myself with popular 1930s-40s culture as well as the L...

And how many sources confirmed your story? Last week I read this piece in the New Statesman , by professional journalist Andrew Gimso...

The end of the academic year is always bittersweet. There's always the violence-inducing and inaccurate comments from friends and family...