Dear Readers,
Good afternoon, and welcome to Off The Fence, a newsletter that follows its heart’s desire. Issue 25 has landed with subscribers, and has already been taken to McDonalds, the garden and to the toilet. New Yorker superstar Ed Caesar – for it is he – has shared Robin Lane Fox’s‘10 Rules for Life’ and (correctly) praised the new issue as ‘fabulous’. Keep them coming as they thwack your doormats, there’s no better sight to us than seeing a copy in the wild.
In a slice of metatextual promotion, Janine Gibson has taken a photo of her own illustrated words above Muammar Gaddafi cracking into the latest issue on the beach.
Now, you really should follow Janine’s instructions, not least as we will be putting prices up in the near future, so do strike now and save yourself some change (the annual costs for all recurring subscribers will remain at the same level).
Today, we’ve got some luxury cringe, a tray of steamed hams and a dispatch from Dubai. But first, a scoop (if not a ladle) of gossip from the food world.
An Honest Boozer
As has been reported elsewhere, the artist Peter Doig has bought the celebrated pub, McGlynn’s, and is already hosting exhibitions above it; we’ve also heard that the food offering will be revamped. But who will be manning the kitchen? A little birdie – a bittern, perhaps – intimated that a long-time Fence favourite may be commandeering the stoves. No word on if they’ll welcome card payments, an online reservation system or electric lighting.
Where We Go, Fashion Follows
Tomorrow’s talk with Jimmy McIntosh at the Owl Bookshop is now sold out, but there might be some space on the night. We will be there with copies of The Pub, of course. The book continues to delight – it was even excerpted in the Daily Mail last week – and we would love to do more talks and events celebrating the great British boozer. If you’d like to collaborate on an event, get in touch at editorial@the-fence.com.
By the Watercooler
Is digital media dead? If so, no one seems to have told the good burghers of SheerLuxe, an online publisher that has expanded to the Middle East from its Clapham headquarters. Unsurprisingly, video is a key part of their content strategy, and they’ve taken the camera indoors to record daily goings-on in their office, which we highly recommend you watch here. Might we do the same? Is it time for a ‘brand pivot’? Let’s see…
Launch for The Fence
As is now becoming tradition, we launched Issue 25 at The Ship on New Cavendish Street last week, once again packing out the pub for an evening of ribald readings and pints of Pravha. We’re pleased to report that a good time was had by all, and our trio of speakers were the funniest yet. First to mount the lectern – a lectern he went out and bought – was Joe Bishop, reading his excoriating dispatch from the depths of Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Lurid stories of vile cocktails, pornographic decor and all-pervading naffness lit up the crowd, and you can read it for yourself right here.
Next to speak was Snake Denton, telling the room about his fateful brush with the casting agents of Love Island, who came perilously close to inviting him to Casa Amor while he grappled with his mental health and sexuality; a tender tale written beautifully and performed charismatically, just as you’d expect if you’ve seen any of his roving reportage on Instagram. But the jawdropper of the night, and indeed the issue, came from Zara Meerza, who recounted the troublingly prevalent phenomenon of men comparing her, and other women, to Anne Frank. It’s a shocking story that needs no further embellishment – read it and weep.
I Said First Aid
Every so often, someone will write a piece for another publication that is so good that it is elevated into the scented heights of the lower-middle section of this newsletter. So it is with Ed Caesar’s profile of Daniel Kinahan, the Dubliner cocaine baron resident in Dubai.
This is a very complicated story that requires, as you will read, significant bravery for a journalist to report on. The full piece is available here.
Tip Our Cap
Have you signed up to Capital Letter yet? You really should – last Thursday’s edition was a star-studded barnstormer, with privileged intel from inside Frieze’s most exclusive day of trading. Our art insider spotted Leo DiCaprio, Kendrick Lamar, Ayo Edebiri and the current Earl of Snowden strolling through the wares at the grandest car boot sale in the western hemisphere.
Elsewhere, we had a guide to London’s secret pub tribes: from the bloviating barristers chuffing cigars at the Seven Stars, to the two-pint maximum now imposed on Chelsea Pensioners at the Rose & Crown. Beneath this, there were tips for the Tibet Film Festival, the nicest curryhouse in Muswell Hill and a brief ode to Soho Square. This newsletter won’t stay free for long, so sign up today before the paywall goes up for good – you won’t find a better prospectus for London life right now.
In Case You Missed It
A tragic coda on the life and demise of Ricky Hatton in the New Statesman.
Sasha Patel and Ben Jacob run the rule over Gail’s and the human cost of their £5 loaf.
Niela Orr leads the way on D’Angelo tributes in the LRB.
How precarious is the current AI bubble? Hank Green says ‘very’. Former IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath says ‘very, very’. Ed Zitron says ‘very, very, very’.
There are few people more qualified to speak on secrecy and the royals than Andrew Lownie.
SNL produces a rare funny sketch in 2025, going two-footed on the podcasts of Gen Alpha.
And Finally
Stop what you’re doing, and allow us to introduce you to the work of Tyrone Deise, a Canadian filmmaker with a niche that draws us in like wasps to a glass of apple juice. Deise trades in the world of Steamed Hams – that is, continually reimagining the seminal sketch from The Simpsons’‘22 Short Films About Springfield’(1996), wherein Principal Skinner haphazardly hosts the contemptuous Superintendent Chalmers for a meal that ends up in flames. (Sidenote: this was really weird to summarise, but we have to assume that some of you mightn’t know it already.)
Deise has turned this sketch into a German Expressionist film, a Dr Seuss cartoon, a title sequence for a Netflix true crime series and a 1930s radio play. But it is his latest, and greatest, that we commend to you today: Steamed Hams recast as the film My Dinner with Andre – a full 44-minute featurette with real actors and grainy 35mm film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk-Oq8iYtVA
Given that the sketch is a pillar of internet lore, Deise is not the first to subvert the form or dredge it from the yellow-hued world of Springfield into pallid grey reality. Some are funny, many are awful, but few match this agonising clip where Jeff Goldblum is bounced by a press-pack journalist into performing a live script read of the scene while trying to promote the video game, Jurassic World Evolution. An odd fellow, but he steams a good ham.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDkqJuUYBaw
Finished! That’s your newsletter for this week – as always, if you have any questions on where your magazine is, send your missive to support@the-fence.com. For tips, pitches and general commentary on the state of the world, send to editorial@the-fence.com. To subscribe before we put the prices up, head straight to our shop. In 2004, the original chestbuster prop from Alien was bought for £29,875 by Chris de Burgh. Until next time.
All the best,
TF