Latest news with #OxfordLiteraryFestival
Telegraph
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Poet Laureate revives axed BBC Radio 4 show as podcast
Simon Armitage is reviving his shed-based Radio 4 show on a rival platform after the BBC refused to commission another series. The Poet Laureate Has Gone To His Shed podcast ran for three successful series, with Armitage interviewing famous guests in his garden in West Yorkshire. The King was among the show's fans, even inviting Armitage to his Welsh farmhouse to record a special edition. Other guests included JK Rowling, Johnny Marr and Sir Ian McKellen. Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, the Poet Laureate revealed the programme will return later this year. Asked if it would be back on the BBC, Armitage said: 'Confusingly and frustratingly, no. Except I had a meeting with somebody yesterday who wants to start the programme again on a different broadcaster. So there will be another series.' The show is likely to return as a podcast, rather than on a commercial radio station, he said, adding that he remained baffled by the BBC's decision to abandon it. 'We made three series for Radio 4 and they were, I think, spectacularly successful. It was incredibly satisfying to hear people say through lockdown that they really liked the programme. 'And, for reasons that I don't understand and I bellyache about, they didn't commission another series. 'I really don't understand it. It's very cheap to make. And it's regional – you can't get much more regional than me sitting in the garden. It was just me and a lawnmower.' The BBC has not given a reason for the cancellation but said last year that it sometimes had to make 'difficult decisions' about its schedule. As part of the programme, Armitage and his guest would drink a glass of sherry from the butt, which the Poet Laureate receives as reward for his duties. Over the 10-year tenure, it works out at 720 bottles. At the festival, which is sponsored by The Telegraph, Armitage said it was impossible to get through so much sherry. 'They send 70 or so bottles a year and they have been piling up in the garage. I give most of it away for people to auction it or raffle it.' His most recent poetry collection, Blossomise, is a hymn to spring blossom. But Armitage has also turned his attention to more prosaic subjects. As 'writer-in-residence in my house' during lockdown, he wrote about his immediate surroundings. 'I wrote three poems about Velux windows because they were right there next to my head,' he said. 'In fact, Velux got to hear about this and asked me to come on the Velux podcast. I had nothing else to do so I did. I spoke brilliantly about double glazing.'
Telegraph
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The Rev Richard Coles: I vowed to dance on Thatcher's grave – then I met her
As a young and idealistic pop star, The Rev Richard Coles vowed that he would one day dance on Margaret Thatcher's grave. Now he has recalled the moment that they came face-to-face in a Knightsbridge church decades later, and Coles realised that she was not the 'wicked' figure of his imagination. He told the Oxford Literary Festival: 'In the 1980s, I was involved in adopting a Welsh mining village that was utterly destroyed by the end of industry there. And Margaret Thatcher's name was infamous. I can remember at the time vowing that I would one day dance on her grave – I'm not proud of it now, but it was in the heat of the moment. 'Years later, she became a parishioner of mine in Knightsbridge. I was the curate of the parish where she lived. I did the funeral of, I think, her sister-in-law. And suddenly there she was, of course very frail. It was not long before she died and her grip on reality was uncertain. She had her people with her. 'It was so interesting to see someone who in my mind was a character of unimaginable darkness, wickedness, but was just, of course, a frail old woman. 'And then, after she died, she was buried at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. I was at a do there and I was standing next to her grave [Baroness Thatcher's ashes were interred beside those of her husband, Denis, in the hospital grounds]. Of course, I wouldn't and didn't.' Coles, a former contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, joked that he considered doing 'maybe just half a cha-cha'. Coles was involved in a gay and lesbian support group for miners at the time of the Miners' Strike. After leaving the music business he joined the Church, latterly as a vicar in Finedon, Northants, before retiring from clerical duties in 2022. He is the author of a cosy crime series about a vicar in a village with an unusually high crime rate. The books are being adapted for television with Matthew Lewis, the actor best known for playing Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, as the leading man. The series will launch on Channel 5 in the autumn. Last year, Coles entered the jungle as a contestant on ITV's I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 'I hadn't planned on that happening,' he said. 'The woman who produced it, I have worked with her on something else and I like her very much. They ask me every year and I always say no. Last year she asked me and my agent said, 'Maybe you should let her down gently. Ask for a ridiculous fee and she will have to say no.' And then she said yes.' Coles has remained friendly with his fellow camp mates. He said: 'There is a very busy WhatsApp group. We've got a reunion coming up and we're all desperately trying to be invited to Coleen Rooney's.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Young white men do have problems, but they need to man up
Last weekend I was on a panel at the Oxford Literary Festival (sponsored by The Telegraph, if you please) and the topic was the Southport riots. In considering the subject, the excellent Tony Sewell, aka the Lord Sewell of Sanderstead, aired the view that one big cause of social unrest in Britain is that white working class boys are left behind. They're bottom of the barrel, whether in school, higher education prospects, health, happiness, or projected income. Sewell, the chair of the 2021 Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, knows the stats well. His report found that 'systemic racism' is not what lies behind disparities in outcome in Britain: it's class, and poor white youth, mostly boys, do by far the worst. This wasn't the first time the topic of struggling working class white boys hit the headlines. There has long been a panic about the effect that feminism, and more recently MeToo, and the discourse of 'toxic' masculinity have had on their psyches, leaving them no choice but to turn to that barbarian Andrew Tate in droves. The topic has once more caught fire since Netflix's Adolescence came out, the miniseries about an English teenage (white, working class) boy accused of the murder of a female classmate. So revered is Adolescence as a – perhaps the – document for our times that Keir Starmer has on multiple occasions intoned reference to it in Parliament, mistakenly and hilariously calling it a documentary. It has provoked anti-woke fury among those who believe that a white boy is the fall guy in a story of violence by another ethnic group; it is always safe, they point out, to blame a white cisgendered heterosexual male. And it has provoked that whiny mixture of faux indignation and performative sentimentalism among those who feel, as their sons turn to Tate (or know boys who do), that they must hold their nose and take seriously the idea that perhaps this squashed, left-out, derided demographic – once the backbone of the Empire – has been given a raw deal since in the decades since wokeness began its institutional creep. Despite its zeitgeistiness, I have refused to watch Adolescence. I may be among the last few, at least in the chattering classes, who have not tuned in. There are several reasons for my refusal. One is that the miniseries is obviously far too depressing. When I turn on a streaming platform these days, I want something jollier, something more along the lines of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City or The White Lotus. The second is that, while I recognise that this group is suffering, I simply don't feel inclined to indulge in either the huge pity party, or the jamboree of toxic-masculinity-awareness-raising, that Adolescence has inspired. Yes, masculinity is in crisis, but the truth is that masculinity has always been in crisis – ask any social historian. And as with all moments of media-friendly crises of masculinity, we find ourselves talking about men like they are helpless little flowers. It is odd. Working-class white boys are found to be treated badly, and therefore to do badly and act badly. One of the big issues cited is that they don't know their worth or purpose anymore in a society constantly calling them 'toxic'. Very sad, but it is possible to get over such slights and thrive anyway. Women faced derision for almost all of history for simply being women – they were seen as neurotic, nervous, intellectually inferior, limited to backbreaking domestic labour and breeding. Any who tried to go beyond this were stymied, ridiculed and often simply barred. Of course there was no educational encouragement or even guaranteed access, unlike that enjoyed by every single child in Britain today. And it was completely acceptable for husbands to beat or rape wives seen as intransigent, or just irritatingly alive. And still women by and large obeyed the law and tried to get on. Some sniping about 'toxic masculinity' is hardly a life sentence. And if boys are small men, and men are meant to be tough (which is why so many are frustrated now, we are told, in this 'feminised' society) can't they hold strong even in the face of adversity? The idea that if we don't give them all a big cultural and social hug they'll commit violence and become arsonists and misogynists isn't good enough. Why can't we expect them to be decent, hardworking people … even in tough circumstances? It might be good for them, even though we'd immediately be told we are crushing them with 'unrealistic expectations'. Yes, young white men need help and encouragement and resources and schemes and mentorships and to not be told they are worthless. But they are not entirely victims either. They do have a bit of agency; they do have their own will. I don't wish the draft on anybody's son but it does occur to one that in days gone by, the majority of these rootless boys without obvious or easy prospects, held back by socioeconomic class (in far more rigid, brutal times) would have donned a uniform and gone off to war. Many would have died, which is a tragedy that is every parent's worst nightmare. For many, though, it was the making of them: they were scalded into men, they tasted valour, heroism and – for the more thuggish – the satisfaction of the appetite for brute force and combat, sanctioned by the state. Let Britain be saved from a war like those that our 20th-century forefathers and mothers experienced. May conscription never be necessary again. But let us find some way to get our ne'er-do-wells, stragglers and miserable young men into something bigger than themselves, to stop them gravitating to all that is lower, nastier and meaner. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
05-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Young white men do have problems, but they need to man up
Last weekend I was on a panel at the Oxford Literary Festival (sponsored by The Telegraph, if you please) and the topic was the Southport riots. In considering the subject, the excellent Tony Sewell, aka the Lord Sewell of Sanderstead, aired the view that one big cause of social unrest in Britain is that white working class boys are left behind. They're bottom of the barrel, whether in school, higher education prospects, health, happiness, or projected income. Sewell, the chair of the 2021 Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, knows the stats well. His report found that 'systemic racism' is not what lies behind disparities in outcome in Britain: it's class, and poor white youth, mostly boys, do by far the worst. This wasn't the first time the topic of struggling working class white boys hit the headlines. There has long been a panic about the effect that feminism, and more recently MeToo, and the discourse of 'toxic' masculinity have had on their psyches, leaving them no choice but to turn to that barbarian Andrew Tate in droves. The topic has once more caught fire since Netflix's Adolescence came out, the miniseries about an English teenage (white, working class) boy accused of the murder of a female classmate. So revered is Adolescence as a – perhaps the – document for our times that Keir Starmer has on multiple occasions intoned reference to it in Parliament, mistakenly and hilariously calling it a documentary. It has provoked anti-woke fury among those who believe that a white boy is the fall guy in a story of violence by another ethnic group; it is always safe, they point out, to blame a white cisgendered heterosexual male. And it has provoked that whiny mixture of faux indignation and performative sentimentalism among those who feel, as their sons turn to Tate (or know boys who do), that they must hold their nose and take seriously the idea that perhaps this squashed, left-out, derided demographic – once the backbone of the Empire – has been given a raw deal since in the decades since wokeness began its institutional creep. Despite its zeitgeistiness, I have refused to watch Adolescence. I may be among the last few, at least in the chattering classes, who have not tuned in. There are several reasons for my refusal. One is that the miniseries is obviously far too depressing. When I turn on a streaming platform these days, I want something jollier, something more along the lines of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City or The White Lotus. The second is that, while I recognise that this group is suffering, I simply don't feel inclined to indulge in either the huge pity party, or the jamboree of toxic-masculinity-awareness-raising, that Adolescence has inspired. Yes, masculinity is in crisis, but the truth is that masculinity has always been in crisis – ask any social historian. And as with all moments of media-friendly crises of masculinity, we find ourselves talking about men like they are helpless little flowers. It is odd. Working-class white boys are found to be treated badly, and therefore to do badly and act badly. One of the big issues cited is that they don't know their worth or purpose anymore in a society constantly calling them 'toxic'. Very sad, but it is possible to get over such slights and thrive anyway. Women faced derision for almost all of history for simply being women – they were seen as neurotic, nervous, intellectually inferior, limited to backbreaking domestic labour and breeding. Any who tried to go beyond this were stymied, ridiculed and often simply barred. Of course there was no educational encouragement or even guaranteed access, unlike that enjoyed by every single child in Britain today. And it was completely acceptable for husbands to beat or rape wives seen as intransigent, or just irritatingly alive. And still women by and large obeyed the law and tried to get on. Some sniping about ' toxic masculinity ' is hardly a life sentence. And if boys are small men, and men are meant to be tough (which is why so many are frustrated now, we are told, in this 'feminised' society) can't they hold strong even in the face of adversity? The idea that if we don't give them all a big cultural and social hug they'll commit violence and become arsonists and misogynists isn't good enough. Why can't we expect them to be decent, hardworking people … even in tough circumstances? It might be good for them, even though we'd immediately be told we are crushing them with 'unrealistic expectations'. Yes, young white men need help and encouragement and resources and schemes and mentorships and to not be told they are worthless. But they are not entirely victims either. They do have a bit of agency; they do have their own will. I don't wish the draft on anybody's son but it does occur to one that in days gone by, the majority of these rootless boys without obvious or easy prospects, held back by socioeconomic class (in far more rigid, brutal times) would have donned a uniform and gone off to war. Many would have died, which is a tragedy that is every parent's worst nightmare. For many, though, it was the making of them: they were scalded into men, they tasted valour, heroism and – for the more thuggish – the satisfaction of the appetite for brute force and combat, sanctioned by the state. Let Britain be saved from a war like those that our 20th-century forefathers and mothers experienced. May conscription never be necessary again. But let us find some way to get our ne'er-do-wells, stragglers and miserable young men into something bigger than themselves, to stop them gravitating to all that is lower, nastier and meaner.
Telegraph
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Lord Biggar: The Left use ‘fascist' to silence people they don't like
The Left is using the term 'fascist' to label anyone it wants to silence, according to an academic 'cancelled' for his views on colonialism. Lord Biggar told an audience at the Oxford Literary Festival that the word had been co-opted to shut down freedom of speech. The Oxford University emeritus professor made headlines in 2018 when fellow historians opposed his project exploring the ethics of the British Empire, after he suggested that Britain should take pride in some aspects of its colonial past. He discussed the backlash in a debate at the festival on whether fascism was on the rise. 'In my experience of the word, it is used to label something or someone so that, from now on, we don't have to listen to them. 'Biggar's a fascist therefore don't listen to him.' It's not a word that is used to illuminate, it's used to shut the ears. The same would go, often-times, for 'racist' or 'white supremacist' or whatever it is. 'It's not helpful. It doesn't advance our understanding at all,' said Lord Biggar, who is chairman of the Free Speech Union and sits as a Conservative peer in the House of Lords. 'Some people think I am a fascist. Why would they think that? Well, because I wrote a book about British colonialism that reckons the British Empire chalked up some signal achievements as well as presiding over some things we should lament. I also don't think empire is necessarily an illegitimate form of rule; most people lived under empires. 'And, what's more, I do think it is not racist to say that sometimes one culture is superior to another in certain respects, so a culture that has figured out how to build ocean-going ships is superior in terms of maritime technology to one that has only developed canoes to go around coastal waters. 'As long as it's not discriminatory, it is perfectly fair to say that at a certain time this culture is more advanced than another in a certain respect. So it may be for those reasons that some people for the last eight years have regarded me as being a fascist or a white supremacist.' Lord Biggar also said it was important that 'we should not think of fascism as a monopoly of the Right'. He said: 'In my own limited experience of the culture wars, as I have experienced aggression and abuse online it has come from the cultural Left. Of course people online are much nastier and more disinhibited than they are in real life, I get that, but I have been struck by the lack of scruple from some people on the Left.' 'Fascist' label applied to Trump supporters He was joined in the debate by Prof Justin Schlosberg, professor of media and communications at the University of Westminster and a fellow at Harvard. Discussing the US, Prof Schlosberg said there was a 'knee-jerk labelling' of Donald Trump and his supporters. 'A lot of Trump's support base, like in this country, encompasses at the margins people who I really would consider fascists or at least sympathetic to certain fascist ideas, but in its mainstream are actually just people with conservative values. 'But what the liberal establishment does is, it seeks to label all of this mass – 70 million voters in America, 20 million here – as far-Right and attendant words like 'fascist',' he said. In a separate talk at the festival, Alexander McCall Smith, the bestselling author, poked fun at the absurdities of trigger warnings and 'the extent to which universities are pandering to an exaggerated sense of vulnerability on the part of students'. The author, whose prolific output includes the No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, said: 'Students say they have a right not to feel uncomfortable. That, to my mind, is really the opposite of what education really is. 'Education requires that you be open to ideas that you disagree with and may make you feel uncomfortable. You can't say you have a right to not be exposed to them. This is not in the spirit of enquiry.'
