There’s something fishy going on at Tory HQ… - February 2021 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - February 21st, 2021

Before Brexit, 44% of British musicians, including my showbusiness friend Fish from Marillion, earned up to half their income from now inaccessible European audiences. But, should Fish find some way around the government’s failure to preserve artists’ touring opportunities, his unfortunate choice of stage name could mean he was still subject to time-consuming delays at…

Oh see how the Tories now run from Donald Trump - January 2021 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - January 17th, 2021

In 2019, Jeremy Hunt, who once hid behind a tree to avoid the press on the way to a party, said politicians boycotting Donald Trump’s state visit were exhibiting “virtue signalling of the worst kind”. Was Hunt also virtue signalling last week, then, when he conceded that Trump “shames American democracy”? Or have the goalposts,…

This deal is enough to make an eel squeal - January 2021 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - January 3rd, 2021

An eel farmer in Gloucestershire who exports eels to continental Europe, and who voted for Brexit, may lose his business because of eel paperwork incurred by the red-tape-removing Brexit he voted for. One can only pity him, and his eels. The time for filthy Remainer schadenfreude has passed. But regular readers will remember that I…

English Covid: a truly world-beating virus - December 2020 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - December 27th, 2020

If the United Kingdom can take one positive thing from the Covid-19 crisis, it is that the most powerful and virulent version of the virus is perceived globally as being British, faster and stronger than its puny foreign counterparts. And the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has rightly declared this the sort of thing that makes…

Fear not! Santa has a plan to save Christmas from Covid and Brexit - December 2020 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - December 20th, 2020

Like many disappointed parents throughout the UK, on Wednesday morning I received the following letter from Father Christmas’s official address, Santa’s Grotto, Reindeerland, XM4 5HQ. “Ho! Ho! Ho! It is I, Father Christmas. I am writing to you to update you on the steps we are taking to maintain The Magic of Christmas ™ ®…

Look at the Tories – scotch egg all over their faces - December 2020 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - December 6th, 2020

On Wednesday morning, on Times Radio, the terminally bewildered health secretary, Matt Handcock, claimed unchallenged that our imminent departure from the EU meant the Covid vaccine had been approved more quickly. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency quickly clarified we had completed the process using existing provisions of EU law. If the Brexit-Covid government…