Dear Readers,
Good afternoon, and welcome back to Off The Fence, a newsletter recently found in an archaeological dig in Turkey. There has been great excitement about Issue 27, and we are delighted with all the kind words, which have been expressed in person, via text message and on social media. It seems like you all agree with us: it is the best one yet.
To celebrate the issue, Snake Denton has recounted his time as a Soho paperboy in video format, and the whole thing has been shot brilliantly by Reuben Adaer Davies, and features a brief cameo from our neighbour, Missy Flynn. Watch it here.
The photos have been absolutely flooding into us and we are just giddy with joy. We have to begin with this wonderful picture of the last contest winner, Hugo Gye, who looks phenomenal with his prize. A reminder at the start of this photo contest season that there is a real, tangible, fizzy prize to be won with your weightless, digital works of heliography.
The issue has of course been seen glamourising shop shelves in Berwick Street and in Hertford, but it has already been making some increasingly ambitious ventures. It dipped its toes into the world with a visit to the National Gallery, and then off to the Royal Court, before making its way down to the bicycle enthusiast’s Tweed Run to witness a penny farthing in action.
It then got stuck into some really good stuff in Henry VII’s wine cellar below the MoD as a guest of Nicholas Morgan before a mad, bleary-eyed dash up to Hadrian’s Wall – in a suitably gorgeous, and now limited, tote bag – to witness the growth of new life at the Sycamore Gap. It then hopped over said wall and said hello to one of its featured subjects, Mr Tony Morris.
A tiring journey to be sure, so it recouped with the help of some furry friends who have pursued its pages in manners traditional and modern, with Fonie Mitsopoulou’s piece on the Groucho attracting particular attention.
It then settled down to a cup of coffee (decaf) and a bit of Camus and to hear some rather wonderful praise from Ian Leslie and another legend of the long read. What a cultured and capricious little thing it is.
Gossip Rag
The WhatsApp wires that power British journalism have been shivering with pleasure at one particular story that concerns a major British political figure. Who’s going to be the first to report it? (It won’t be us.)
On the Ropes
The arrest of Daniel Kinahan in Dubai provides the opportunity to revisit Ed Caesar’s outstanding feature on the Dubliner. Even up until his arrest, the cocaine kingpin was intimately involved in boxing, and it will be fascinating to see if there is any degree of accountability for anyone involved at the other end. Some of you will remember Tyson Fury – now painting himself as some sort of Morecambe Ozzy Osbourne with his fly-on-the-wall Netflix show – grovellingly thanking Kinahan for ‘getting the deal over the line’ on a planned fight with Anthony Joshua. That showdown never came to pass, and in all likelihood, never will. But we are sure that we will hear more about this story, and soon.
Send Us Your Best
The inbox has been deluged with some tip-top pitches of late, and there are still a couple of spots left on the flatplan for Issue 28. We’re looking for a really fun feature (when are we not?) and something really newsy in the ‘facts’ section. If this sounds like something you might have in your locker, then do have a read of the pitch guide here, and wing through an email to editorial@the-fence.com, and we’ll take it from there.
Can’t Knock the Culture Hustle
The latest issue contains an investigation that anyone who has been involved ‘in the game’ will recognise to be a superior piece of reportage. It concerns the artist, Stuart Semple, who went from being lauded as the ‘Basquiat of the noughties’ to operating as a provincial huckster from a studio in Bournemouth. Speaking to over a dozen of his former employees, Phin Jennings paints a picture of an artist who refuses to acknowledge that their 15 minutes of fame are spent, and who has left a wake of unpaid bills and furious collaborators in his wake.
Naturally, Semple has been responding to the allegations detailed within the piece in his own inimitable way– witness his latest Substack post here – but do buy a copy of the magazine to get the full scoop on the Dorset Osho.
Whining and Dining
The chainification of perfectly good restaurants continues to peeve everyone. In Issue 25, Ian Trueger cuts into the belly of the problem. Speaking to over 25 industry insiders, Trueger charts the events and people that granted PE ‘access to much vaster reserves of capital’ and ‘invited [the industry] to spread its legs at the table’. The piece, which you can read here, takes turns with some of London’s most distinguished restaurateurs to talk shop. Margaret Henderson of Rochelle Canteen, Daniel Willis of Luca and Jeremy King of The Wolseley float the appeal and risk of being bought up.
In Case You Missed It
Ed Campbell rides his hobby horse.
Two stupid tweets from the week as the Madlanga Commission is derailed by a stuck tissue and the Prime Minister transforms into the Road Runner.
‘Aristocrats’ at play or a bunch of Zone 2 insurance brokers on a PR freebie? Either way, it’s the most infuriating video of 2026.
A fun piece about owning and firing guns, from Paul Theroux.
Robbie Williams remembers taking MDMA, via the iPhone notes app.
The tale of the Ceefax striker.
And Finally
Recent small-scale news in the US has seen a return to the public eye of a long-forgotten stoner icon: Afroman. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, almost certainly his one hit song Because I Got High.
Since that brief, Grammy-nominated rise to fame, Afroman drifted out of the limelight in a very contented manner. He chose to release music every now and then online, moving to Adam’s County (population c. 27,000) to pursue a quiet rural life. This remained the case until August 2022, when his home was broken into and raided by the local police using a warrant that alleged kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Officers tore through his home, breaking his door and his gate, disabling his security system and seizing $5,000. What they found was precisely nothing at all. Most outrageous of all of their non-discoveries were the purported kidnapping victims, who police sources had alleged were in the basement of Afroman’s property, which, upon their close inspection, revealed itself to be just as much of a bungalow from the inside as it looked on the outside.
Afroman was understandably miffed, and reached out to the police to ask whether they would be willing to repair any of the damage they caused and to ask about the whereabouts of some $400 of the seized cash, which was missing when it was returned to him. So far, so usual for the American policing system.
However, blessed with a talent for stoner-comedic rap and a collection of CCTV footage of the raid, Afroman saw the unpleasant situation as a perfect opportunity. He got into the studio and penned a series of wonderfully silly songs and accompanied them with the aforementioned footage, releasing them onto YouTube. The first of these was the directly titled Will You Help Me Repair My Door.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bNy7XO-SCI
This would be swiftly followed by other bangers such as Lemon Pound Cake, a song which fixated on a brief double-take by one of the larger officers when he passed by the appealing desert on Afroman’s counter. The officer himself was swiftly nicknamed Officer Pound Cake by Afroman producing a series of similar nicknames such as Licc’em Low Lisa and perhaps the best track of this recent oeuvre, RANDY WALTERS IS A SON OF A BITCH.
For Afroman, this was an opportunity to take the mick and also earn some cash back to repair his gate and door, given the lack of police willingness on that front. For the officers in question, it was an act that caused “humiliation, ridicule, mental distress, embarrassment and loss of reputation”, words that felt slightly rich in the irony given what they’d just done to a man whose only response was to produce a few comedy songs in response. All the same, seven sheriff’s officers proceeded to sue Afroman for invasion of privacy.
One of their three claims was dismissed outright. The other two made it to trial, where a jury acquitted Afroman in full and the officers had to sit and listen to all of the songs in full while Afroman sat draped in a custom suit made of U.S. flags. Some of the court footage is truly bizarre. It’s one of the most remarkable pieces of litigious backfiring we’ve seen in recent times. Since the trial, Afroman’s streaming numbers are up 500%. Well played Sir, well played.
That’s it for this week, and we’ll be back with you on Tuesday hence. If you have any technical questions, please do email us at support@the-fence.com. Everything else is to editorial@the-fence.com, and please do keep winging through the photos of the mag to that address. The Dalai Lama is frightened of caterpillars.
All the best,
TF