Viv Albertine tells an illuminating tale about her wilderness years spent trapped in a dreary, constrictive marriage. She’d sit at dinner parties next to business types and have nothing whatsoever to say to them. “I was...
Read MoreFull and frank disclosure from the off: I am and have always been a Suede fan. When they arrived in the early 90s they felt like a band that really mattered, like I might physically fight anyone who did them down (though the...
Read MoreWhat a night! Never before have I sat in a library swigging wine out of the bottle all the while laughing until my ribs actually ached.This Manchester Literature Festival event was by far the most amount of fun I’ve ever had in...
Read MoreThe last time I saw Claire Tomalin in Manchester she was battling some sort of rave act in order to be heard. The scene was Manchester Town Hall and the occasion was the Manchester Literature Festival. If memory serves, this was...
Read MoreWhat do breakfast kippers, a curry and a book about law all have in common? No, this is not the start of a bad joke, but the reality for one mother. Harriet Harman’s mother to be precise – cooking breakfast for her retired...
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