All four of Will’s recent A Point of Views are now available to listen to on the iPlayer: The fun of work – really?; Re-launching National Service; The Fourth Plinth; and, Teaching to the test.
Will Self on Question Time with Nigel Farage
Will Self is going to be joined by Dr Sarah Wollaston MP, Richard Burgon MP, Nigel Farage MEP, and Louise Mensch on Question Time tonight on BBC1 at 10.45pm.
On Article 50 and parliament
I have a confession to make: I was approached by the people who brought the case in the high court over the government’s right to trigger Article 50 without a parliamentary vote. They asked me if I’d consider writing an independent opinion to be included in the dossier handed to the justices – and I declined. I can’t actually find the email I sent to them but the general tenor of my refusal was: ça suffit!
Headspace: The ‘romance delusion’
Headspace, the second edition of Prospect’s new monthly podcast, features Will Self debunking the “romance delusion”.
The Great British Bake Off and the Labour party
I wonder if Tom Watson and Paul Hollywood are the same person? I have never seen them in the same room together – neither in the devil’s kitchen of Westminster, nor in the heavenly Great British Bake Off marquee. Now the Parliamentary Labour Party is being forced to shift to the political equivalent of Channel 4, and the Cake Meister is going with. As with the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn, so with Bake Off: the former presenters have departed, leaving behind the weird, judgmental, wrinkly old narcissist claiming the high ground of loyalty to the viewers – I mean members.
The future of play: FutureFest 2016 talk
Just a Minute
Listen to Will Self on his debut on Just a Minute on Radio 4 with Ross Noble, Sheila Hancock and Paul Merton here.
The Shore at the Royal Academy
The inquiry into historical child sexual abuse allegations has become a national farce
A French friend, in town for a couple of days recently, was suitably and stereotypically bemused by our latest bad news about terrible crimes: Justice Lowell Goddard’s resignation as the head of the inquiry into historical child abuse was closely preceded by new results from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, according to which 11 per cent of the women questioned, and 3 per cent of the men, said they had been sexually assaulted during childhood.
A Point of View: Finding Our Roots
Will Self’s latest run of Radio 4 Point of Views looks at genealogy, on Friday 19 August at 8.50pm here. You can also listen to What’s Wrong With Modern Art? and Act your Age on the iPlayer.