Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

Safe and sound

Topics they would rather avoid talking about: Rattle's Great Hall of the People, the humiliation of ENO, the Faber cartel, the cult of Muhly...

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Rod Liddle

I liked John Prescott enormously

There was a time we all looked forward to on the BBC Today programme, back in the early years of Tony Blair’s first term as Prime Minister. Late July, early August. Blair had scooted off to San Gimignano, Mandelson was probably on a yacht with an oligarch, even Campbell was away battling his weird inner demons somewhere.

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