Doon Toon

OK, schadenfreude is an ugly emotion, but I am a Sunderland supporter and some small pleasure at Newcastle United’s relegation … More

Failing slightly less badly

After Newcastle’s relegation on Sunday, John Motson trotted out the well-known cliche about what ‘an unforgiving league’ the Premiership is. … More

I’ve always liked the work of Ute Lemper, the German singer who’s probably best known for her interpretations of Kurt … More

The death of Ernest Millington, who won a historic war-time by-election in 1945 at Chelmsford for the radical Common Wealth … More

I picked up an old compilation of minimalist music to put me in the right frame of mind for a … More

One of the pleasures of Alex Ross’ The Rest Is Noise is that he has a good ear for an … More

It seems that it may be utterly appropriate that Newcastle United’s players have ‘Northern Rock’ [opens in pdf] emblazoned across … More

I had quite a sheltered musical upbringing and came quite late to the second British blues boom. Somewhere I still … More