How much Brexit bull can a proud Brummie take? - August 2022 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - August 7th, 2022

The admirable Brighton art rock band British Sea Power are now known simply as Sea Power, “due to a rise in a certain kind of nationalism in this world – an isolationist, antagonistic nationalism that we don’t want to run any risk of being confused with”. Rumour suggests that the British Cheese Board, the official…

Praise be to Mick Lynch, the Brexit arse made good - July 2022 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - July 31st, 2022

It is Wednesday night and I am camping near a West Country gastropub, to snaffle its wild boar wares. But though the unacknowledged pre-Raphaelite triptych in the local church still shimmers secretly in the shadows, the inn once so welcoming is closed, except for weekends, due to staff shortages, doubtless off the back of Brexit.…

Tory death-priests have our lives in their hands - July 2022 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - July 24th, 2022

“Dear Jim’ll. Please can you fix it for me to a) Go all upside down in a Typhoon plane like in Top Gun; b) Go in parliament drunk with my best friend Nadine and shout “boring” at the square politicians; c) Have a massive party with all food in a massive stately home for free;…

Boris Johnson and a robot from Abba? Someone put out an SOS… - July 2022 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - July 17th, 2022

A dead ant has more dignity than Boris Johnson. In north London, the day that Johnson inconclusively resigned was also Flying Ant Day, when thousands of frenzied male ants, and a few new queens, fly the nest to mate. The males are largely useless and, after spaffing, expire on the pavements and die. But unlike…

I’m not answering my phone, in case it’s No 10 offering me a job - July 2022 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - July 10th, 2022

I will always remember where I was when I heard Boris Johnson had resigned. It was 9.05am on Thursday 7 July, I was driving through Stamford Hill. This column had a final deadline of 10am and now I had 55 minutes to rewrite it. The bendy BBC Tory-trumpet Chris Mason broke the news via the…

Tory contempt for the arts means we face a second dark age - July 2022 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - July 3rd, 2022

On Wednesday, Dominic Raab, the Minister for Paddleboarding While Kabul Burns, mocked the Labour deputy leader for attending Glyndebourne while railway workers picketed. Who did Angela Rayner think she was? Pick up your stepladder, get back in your slum and eat your fried offal, peasant. “No opera for you!” Raab even winked at Rayner before…