Dear Readers,
Good afternoon, and welcome to Off The Fence, a no-frills newsletter. Issue 21 has just been sent to print, and will be with our dear readers – and on the nation’s newsstands – in two weeks. More information, as ever, to follow; maybe even a cover story dropping a few weeks early, but that’s all we’ll say for now.
There are only 24 hours left of the TF summer sale – the mood is decidedly autumnal. You can score 20 percent off a subscription using the promo code 5YOFENCE at the checkout – you can get to it by tapping the image below or by clicking that lovely red button right ‘neath it.
This week, we celebrate an Irish priest with a hard hat and drop some more silly names but first, some words about that dreadful event seven summers ago.
Paging Scotland Yard
As readers across the world dissect the six volumes of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, it is worth remembering that no charges have been yet brought against those culpable for the 72 deaths in that horrific inferno. Victims and families of victims have been told that they will have to wait until 2027 – at least – for criminal trials to take place.
Fascinatingly, the two detectives in charge of the investigation, Stuart Cundy and Garry Moncrieff, gave an unprecedented all-access interview to the Times last week. What’s prompted this PR exercise?
According to multiple sources we’ve spoken to, the Metropolitan Police have had to wait for the inquiry to be published, as they don’t have the skill or capabilities to execute an investigation of that magnitude in-house. If this disaster had taken place in the United States, we are told, the FBI – with their resources and expertise – would have already scored convictions.
RIP David Knowles
The Fence’s editor-at-large, Fergus Butler-Gallie, remembers a legend in the making.
I think David Knowles was set to be one of the great journalists of our generation. That’s the sort of thing people glibly say after a tragic death like his, but in his case I think it was demonstrably true. His Telegraph Ukraine podcast has become the must-listen-to chronicle of the conflict, tuned into by secretaries of state, front line troops, aid workers and the general public. Yesterday’s episode was a short, emotional tribute to David.
He began broadcasting on day one of the invasion and quickly turned it into something I suspect future historians will find invaluable, travelling the warzone with a mic, a bottle of vodka, and a seemingly endless reserve of kindness and interest in other people.
It felt as if I didn’t know him even half as well as I should have liked, and I suspect – in the world of journalism – that I am not alone in that. Scrolling back through his messages to me, I found one of his beaming grandparents at home on Islay, so visibly proud of him. I hope those who did know him better, and so clearly loved him, might be comforted both by their faith and by the knowledge that he was so widely respected and admired.
The Moving Carpet of Corgis
For some years, Craig Brown has been the alpha papa of English satire, and over the last decade or so has been actively reinventing the concept of the biography. Many of you will have savoured Ma’am Darling, that ravely reviewed portrait of Princess Margaret.
The sequel – a portrait of Margaret’s sister – is titled A Voyage Around The Queen, and it is creamed with the same happy mélange of parodies, listicles, memoir, history, all laced with wonderfully restrained humour. It’s pure catnip for TF readers and if you haven’t got a copy already then there’s something wrong with you. Do read this John Banville review here and then buy a copy.
Dorset Woodcock
Last week, we listed some silly names, and our readers have come through. We are delighted to introduce you to Newley Gay and Somerset Pheasant (who works at Goldman Sachs), and the insights manager for the England rugby team, Tory Clarkson. There were quite a few more entries but these three were the pick of the bunch. We realise that we have now spent two newsletters mocking members of the public, and will endeavour to ‘punch up’ going forwards so as to satisfy the dullards who might come across this mail-out.
Pope Julius Would Be Proud
A member of the editorial team found themselves in Sligo this weekend, where they were struck by the majesty of Ireland West Airport, a tiny little operation in north County Mayo which serves decent pints of Guinness at six euro in two separate bars (arrivals and departures). The man responsible? Monsignor James Horan, the parish priest for Knock, whose indefatigable campaigning brought the jumbo jets to the ‘foggy, boggy site.’ Horan, who was known for touring the site signing ‘I’m dreaming of a great airport’ to the tune of White Christmas, is well-captured in this small clip below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZifbYYj5k4w
Do you know of any unlikely authors of titanic infrastructure projects? Do let us know via editorial@the-fence.com and we’ll hopefully have a decent compilation for next week.
There Are Places She Remembers
Some people say the fifth Beatle was George Best; others, with a broader yet looser conception of British musical history, argue that it was, in fact, George Formby. Real heads know, however, that the fifth Beatle was actually a secret, third George: George Martin, the svengali producer who helped bring Beatlemania to the masses. Amid the mania though, Martin’s first wife Sheena was left behind for a lifetime of sunning in Scouse afterglow. Molly Lipson met Sheena’s daughter, Alexis Stratfold, and tells the tale of Martin’s forgotten pre-fame family, ripped asunder by the force of the Fab Four. Read it here.
Fence/Off
Not sure if you have realised this, as we have not mentioned it very often in the annals of this newsletter, but The Fence is celebrating its fifth birthday this year. As part of the deeply low-key celebrations for that auspicious occasion, our eminent editor Charlie Baker sat down with fellow eminent editor Matthew Whitehouse, of The Face, to engage in a head to head. If you enjoy reading such things, you can do so here.
Brat Autumn
We have held on for as long as humanly possible, but the sky is grey, freshers week is upon us, and Sir Keir Starmer’s hair has gone totally white. This can mean only one thing: Brat summer is finally over. Actually it also means that today is the last day of The Fence’s frankly absurdly economical summer sale.
Hundreds of you have taken us up on the offer of subscribing with the code 5YOFENCE, so much so that some of our back issues are now completely sold out. If you are mourning the imminent Autumnal end of our giveaway, then there are still plenty of single issues to purchase from our juicy archive right here.
In Case You Missed it
Steve Rose speaks to Jerald Walker, the 'black child raised by white supremacists'.
Rafil Kroll-Zaidi pens a truly delightful piece for Curbed, from the frontlines of NYC’s war on idling.
Rosa Lyster explores the story of an extraordinary installation at Dennis Severs’ House.
If you’re the kind of person who’d enjoy a dissertation-length Perry Anderson essay about Zhou Enlai, then you’ll never guess what.
And Finally
Three Salons At The Seaside, Philippa Lowthorpe’s seminal 1994 documentary about hairdressers in Blackpool, has recently been restored to the iPlayer, and we can’t recommend it heartily enough. You can of course still make use of the below YouTube video if you find yourself outside of the UK (or, like us, especially adoring of the old BBC2 logo).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUIr-UB7eEQ
Three Salons does exactly what it says on the tin, documenting the goings-on in three hairdressers in Blackpool and nothing else. There is little incident, nor any over-arching melodrama. There is no threat of demolition, no grand ball or gala to prepare for; just the quotidian joys of regular appointments for repeat customers – all women, and almost all elderly widows – coming to these three salons for cuts, companionship and care. If that sounds drab, worry not. It is, quite simply, one of the funniest, most charming and intermittently heartbreaking adventures in short documentary ever filmed.
Its combination of warmth and wit was purportedly a huge influence on Caroline Aherne for The Royle Family, but the most recent nod from the wider world was when peerless parodists Documentary Now! riffed on it for their own version, Two Hairdressers In Scragglyport, starring Harriet Walter and Cate Blanchett. We can only commend them both.
Just as the petit-fours are brought to your table and the waiter asks how you take your coffee, you realise: this newsletter’s over and done with for another week. And with that, the obligatory emails – support@the-fence.com for all things relating to delivery, editorial@the-fence.com for pitches, tips and ribald boasts. Remember to leave us a nice review on Tripadvisor, and don’t forget that coat weather has now returned until March. Possibly April.
All the best,
TF