Rod Liddle

England

Contributor at The Sunday Times

Associate Editor at The Spectator

Journalist. Just honest.

Articles

Tall Tales fails to live up to its potential

4 days ago | thespectator.com | Rod Liddle

Grade: B+You are in the wrong hands here for what is a homage to this duo’s favorite electronic music. The only Radiohead album I like is the guitar-driven Pablo Honey (and I wasn’t terribly mad on that to be honest). My inclination is to mark down the genre itself, for its wafting and beeping and farting portentousness, all the way back to Stockhausen. But I suppose one has to put such prejudices aside.
Get your Pride month Kevin the Carrot, while stocks last

4 days ago | spectator.com.au | Rod Liddle

Please consider this a sort of public service announcement. I mention it because sadly, you may have been unaware of what a special month this is at the supermarket Aldi. You still have time to buy a ‘Kevin the Carrot’ toy from Aldi for £3.99. Kevin is on sale all year round, of course – but in June, for a limited period, you can buy him dressed in the rainbow Pride colours, to celebrate Pride month.
Get your Pride month ‘Kevin the Carrot’, while stocks last

4 days ago | spectator.co.uk | Rod Liddle

Please consider this a sort of public service announcement. I mention it because sadly, you may have been unaware of what a special month this is at the supermarket Aldi. You still have time to buy a ‘Kevin the Carrot’ toy from Aldi for £3.99. Kevin is on sale all year round, of course – but in June, for a limited period, you can buy him dressed in the rainbow Pride colours, to celebrate Pride month. You can also buy a rainbow Pride beach towel to show your support.
Fare-dodgers beware! Jenrickman is here to restore a state of grace

6 days ago | thetimes.com | Rod Liddle

So there you are at the Tube station and once again you’re almost skint. You’re still lithe enough to leap the barrier, though — which means you can spend that saved fiver on a half-pint. You peer around a bit. There are enforcement officers milling about by the entrance, but they are doing exactly what they always do: nothing whatsoever. So, feeling scarcely a quantum of shame, you leap, and you get away with it.
At last, I’ve found a crime drama to enjoy - it’s even got jokes

6 days ago | thetimes.com | Rod Liddle

Gwyneth Keyworth and Timothy Spall in Death ValleyBBC STUDIOS/SIMON RIDGWAYPlease, imagine my discomfort when I was asked to review a new BBC crime drama series.
Kemi Badenoch: I’ve got the most difficult job in politics. Who would want it?

1 week ago | thetimes.com | Rod Liddle

“To listen to them, you’d think there was a general election next week. There isn’t. It is at least four years away, maybe a bit longer. And I hate to think what state the country will be in by then,” said Kemi Badenoch, for the first time a certain air of exasperation creeping into her voice. I had been warned that she might be a little snippy, or prickly — but there was none of that. She was affable and, for the most part, exuded confidence.
A lovely album: Saint Leonard’s The Golden Hour reviewed

1 week ago | spectator.com.au | Rod Liddle

Grade: A+The kids with their synths and hip producers, dragging the 1980s back: I wish they would stop. It was, in the main, an awful decade for music, the bands trite yet portentous, the stupid burbling bass guitars, hubris-stricken vocals and tinny drums. The kids retread all the dross.
How Covid broke Britain

1 week ago | spectator.com.au | Rod Liddle

It was at about this time, five years ago, that the workers at my (then) local farm shop began wearing plastic bags on their feet, over their trainers. This was because of a report somewhere that said the Covid virus hung about on the ground and then leapt, with great agility and cunning, on to people’s shoes, from whence it swiftly decamped to your bloodstream and killed you.
How Covid broke Britain

1 week ago | spectator.co.uk | Rod Liddle

It was at about this time, five years ago, that the workers at my (then) local farm shop began wearing plastic bags on their feet, over their trainers. This was because of a report somewhere that said the Covid virus hung about on the ground and then leapt, with great agility and cunning, on to people’s shoes, from whence it swiftly decamped to your bloodstream and killed you.
A lovely album: Saint Leonard's The Golden Hour reviewed

1 week ago | spectator.co.uk | Rod Liddle

The kids with their synths and hip producers, dragging the 1980s back: I wish they would stop. It was, in the main, an awful decade for music, the bands trite yet portentous, the stupid burbling bass guitars, hubris-stricken vocals and tinny drums. The kids retread all the dross. Yet if you were actually around and sentient in that avaricious decade, as was SaintLeonard, you could find a certain chill beauty in hidden corners. Not the New Romantics, not Japan, not SAW.