Dear Readers,
Welcome back to Off The Fence, a newsletter that’s heard the good news. As per our special Sunday bulletin, the new issue is with the world, with the times and with you, our beloved readers. As they conclude their national and international journeys to your doormats, we do hope you enjoy what we’ve been cooking up.
But a new issue means time for renewed generosity as the photo contest re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-opens! Here is the magazine with a rather imperious cat, on a scale, at the pub with a pint and with a delicious bar of chocolate, which is all very cheering to see. We will be accepting all entries that feature the mag, but this time round, we thought we’d add a special, bonus theme. We will be paying special attention to snaps that are taken in the United Kingdom and Ireland. You don’t have to follow that to win, the outside thinkers are The Fence’s friend, but it never hurts to toe the party line. The winner will receive a bottle of Champagne as long as they’ve managed to spell editorial@the-fence.com correctly (or to tag us on social media). That’s where you send the photos. A reminder that the new issue is also being stocked in Waterstones, every single remaining WH Smith and everyone’s favourite supermarket, Waitrose. The print renaissance is happening. Words on pages are down with the kids. And so on.
Magazines for Me, Magazines for You
It’s also worth noting that we’re now officially in gap-filling mode for the new issue. At the moment, we’ve got a few cavities to tend to: two open slots in Etc, a short story and a strong insider piece for Facts. If you’ve got something that could help fill them, we’d love to hear from you. As always, our pitch guide can be found here, and our office door can be knocked at editorial@the-fence.com.
But more pressing matters clamour for attention, with a quick look Stateside.
Eric Adams: Epilogue
We enjoyed the profile of the ex-NY mayor Eric Adams in the recent issue of n+1. To our eye, it contains perhaps only one error – suggesting Eric Adams’ time in the limelight is completely finished. Will he be a regular occupant? No. But if there is one thing the man is exceptionally good at, it’s doing ridiculous and illegal things that garner attention. And the latest trick this devil (from one of the lighter circles of hell) has pulled is becoming officially Albanian.
To long-time Adams observers, the move isn’t a total surprise. The man was known to enjoy a foreign tour becoming renowned for his liberal application of a crowd-pleasing formula that ran along the lines of ‘New York is the [INSERT CITY NAME] of America’, something which Adams is on record as believing applies to Athens, Kyiv, Seoul, Islamabad, Tel Aviv, Zagreb, Lima, Mexico City, Dublin and Istanbul. It would have been a quite lovable trait if it didn’t involve, as much of Adams’ mayoralty did, copious graft and corruption. The engine room of Adams’ jet-setting was, of course, free airline tickets, traded for favour that only the Big Cheese of the Apple can offer.
But if there was ever a place that captured Adams’ heart, it was Albania. On three separate occasions as mayor, Adams presided over flag-raising ceremonies and introduced the city’s first Albania Day parade. Indeed, Eric Adams loved Albania so much that he managed to pass it down to his son (stage name Jayoo), who gave this inspired performance on the country’s version of American Idol.
Adams’ citizenship is the feel-good ending to a long romance no one really understands, needs or asked for. And yet somehow, it’s rather touching. Perhaps best of all, it has brought about a civil war among Wikipedia editors who are fighting over whether Adams’ page should now officially describe him as ‘Albanian-American’. For now, the anti-Albanian faction seems to be out on top. For now.
Singhs and Roundabouts
When Sarah Haque was a small child growing up in Bangladesh, she was called ‘Bideshi’ – or, foreigner – by friends and family. A term of endearment, the nickname was eventually shrugged off when she arrived in the UK. In the piece included in our latest issue and now online, she tots up her rolling mental scorecard of Britishness and Bangladeshiness. ‘Second-gens and beyond have a superior kind of citizenship to mine: implied, non-negotiable. Whereas I have silently weighed up my Englishness for years’.
Autobán
On Sunday, it was announced that Viktor Orbán had been ousted as the Prime Minister of Hungary by Péter Magyar. It is astonishing news and a long time in the making. In 2022, in Issue 11, John Merrick looked into the stunning appearance of an unlikely magazine, Hungarian Conservative, on UK newsstands. Filled with writing ‘splashing out screeds on the usual centre-right fare of freedom, family and tradition, much of which was written in a somewhat jumbled Hunglish’, the now-defunct publication was funded by some questionable characters and groups. Yet, as Merrick puts it, ‘If this seems to amount to a shadowy, unimpeachable network of dark money and cultural soft power, then do not fear too keenly – that description may oversell its impact. Orbán’s popularity is teetering.’ Four years later, Merrick’s assessment finally came true.
You can read the full piece here.
By, Beigel, By
Those of you who read Capital Letter will know that we love the 24-hour Brick Lane Beigel Bake, alongside the reason why US labour laws make the American ‘bagel’ worse than the original. Given this, it was pleasing to see the legendary shop get a very pretty treatment from the video-culture folks at Nowness. Take a look at those beigels, and subscribe to Capital Letter while you’re at it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmynhWp2c74
Home Stable
Congratulations are in order to Harry Shukman, who has been named the Sunday Times’ Writer of the Year 2026. The winning loot was his undercover investigation of choice individuals, including Britain First, Holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis and a Silicon Valley-backed race-science organisation. It is always wonderful to hear good news from friends of TF. Before Harry went headfirst into the far-right pool, he took TF undercover with practitioners of conversion therapy in Issue 5 in our very first investigation. He looked into the True Freedom Trust, a charity seeking to ‘help people handle their same-sex attraction, to reconcile that with their faithful Christian living and actually to be a faithful Christian without sinning within their same-sex attraction’. Well done, Harry.
You can read the full piece here.
Vauxhall, Cross
In the spirit of true log-rolling, we were delighted to see Patrick Radden Keefe shout-out this very publication alongside some other newbies in an extended interview with Longreads. A reminder that London Falling really is the book event of the year – just read this review from Craig Brown for further confirmation.
Head of Ops
In other news, the arrival (advent?) of a new Archbishop of Canterbury means a look back into previous TF coverage of past and problematic archbishops of late. In our January 2025 online edition, Miles Ellingham and Cormac Kehoe investigated Justin Welby’s troubled history. They asked: was Welby the worst Archbishop of Canterbury since Thomas Arundel? Perhaps. The evidence is marshalled through a look at his conversion through the evangelical organisation Charismatic Christianity, his first job at a French state-owned oil company and his failures relating to John Smyth’s abuse of children. Keeping things holy, we also turn back to our reporting of a legacy of deceit, fraud and suicide at the heart of the Church of England. Tim Wyatt followed the story of Martin Sargeant, a man with wayward taste in luxury goods and a mysterious rise to the top of the Diocese of London. Once he started as, among other things, a fixer in the Church, he went on to make spurious and false allegations against various members and colleagues. Wyatt reported in Issue 23 on the allegations – and the devastating outcome of the spool of lies.
In Case You Missed It
Faye Curran on the CIA ‘torture queen’ turned life coach.
That dancing Hungarian politician in full.
The focus of Issue 27’s very first piece continues to deliver pure gold on his Instagram.
Childhood cornish sheepracing looks as good as it sounds.
Jimmy ‘Pintlord’ McIntosh’s latest video on the Holloway Road is very good and worth paying for.
And Finally
Who doesn’t love the Wu-Tang Clan? Someone probably must do, but it isn’t us. And though we usually enjoy them for their musical talents, we love one of them (RZA) for a particular instance of the exact opposite. In a slightly bizarre crossover with Guitar Centre, RZA agreed to drop by and cook up a beat for them on the fly. For those who aren’t deeply versed in the rap world, this is a bit like Brian Cox agreeing to come round and shoot an on-the-fly monologue for a crossover with Rymans. But the best part of it, is that a man responsible for some of rap’s most famous beats absolutely shits the bed in real time next to some dweeb from Guitar Centre who has to act like what he’s hearing isn’t a total trainwreck. We promise you, you don’t have to care one jot about rap to enjoy this one – any student of online video cringe can enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59NVvnkJ0Sw
You’ll notice the video has been re-uploaded through non-official channels because Guitar Centre pulled it out of pure shame. Why they thought to upload it in the first place, we’ll never know.
The real shame of it, is that it gives a bad name to a brilliant thing. At its best, beat-making can be a great thing. Fortunately there’s a classic YouTube series called Rhythm Roulette that can showcase how the good stuff gets done. It’s a simple premise: take a good producer, blindfold them in a record shop, make them pick three records out and then get them to sample them. It’s a kind of Queer Eye For The Straight Guy/Pimp My Ride set up for hip-hop nerds.
One of the best out there is 9th Wonder’s episode which features a truly phenomenal reinvention of a country record and Wondagurl’s quiet demonstration of her technical skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5q1ckVzOBk
There’s no more newsletter, there’ll never be any more newsletter. Until next week, of course! And, indeed, there’ll be a newsletter of a totally different style and flavour in just two days when another stellar edition of Capital Letter comes your way – do remember to sign up here. If you’d rather email us instead, do use editorial@the-fence.com or support@the-fence.com, but really reading Capital Letter will be much more interesting. That’s all for now folks, all that remains is to remind you of the wisdom of Mr David Lynch: Keep your eye on the doughnut, not the hole. Lightning comes out of the sky and up from the ground at the same time.
All the best,
TF