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The newest stories from The Fence — features, facts, fiction and more.
All My Friends Are Famous
The mysterious covenant of the celebrity-civilian friendship pact.
13 January 2026
Choo-Choo-Cha-Boogie
Steam through history, as we take a ride on the very first locomotive engine.
5 January 2026
Rumours of Our Death
Forecasts of print’s demise have been around for as long as press barons have been buying ink by the barrel. We asked a panel of print icons how the medium has fared in the first quarter-century of this millennium.
18 December 2025
The Ceremonial Counties of England… Ranked!
A deeply subjective guide to the shires, starting at the top and finishing, of course, at the bottom. We brook no arguments.
17 December 2025
When the Sleigh Bells Ring
Isobel Thompson met Santa Claus.
16 December 2025
Czech in, Cash out
Fergus Butler-Gallie seeks bodily and monetary cleanliness.
16 December 2025
Sent to Coventry
Decca Mitford’s son, Ben Treuhaft, is a piano tuner with a purple-dyed goatee, living between Edinburgh and the West Midlands. But does he share his mother’s politics?
9 December 2025
Father of Life, Mystery of Mystery, His Name Chaos
The cosmic wandering of Michael Vaughan Magee, as relayed by his son.
8 December 2025
No More Worlds to Conquer
Dropping in on Robin Lane Fox, Britain's most quixotic newspaper columnist.
2 December 2025
Summa Cum Laude
Paying a visit to the country’s premier gay for pay university, run by Andy Lee, a straight-talking Dubliner.
24 November 2025Visa-Vis
For our correspondent, a graduate visa held out the promise of an exciting future. After completing two degrees, she tried, and struggled, to find a job because the visa that gave her a right to work in the UK was making that impossible.
14 November 2025
The Grogfather
Saluting Nofio Pecoraro Junior, the Italian-American fugitive who became the landlord of a pub in south London.
10 November 2025