Dear Readers,
Good afternoon, and welcome to Off The Fence, a newsletter that many people like. We’ve got a fun outing for you today, with lots of treats and tips from these shores and beyond.
After the total success of last week’s sale, we’ve printed another 25 tokens. Just enter ICECREAM20 at the checkout and you’ll get 20 percent off a subscription for the year – that’s print, digital or both, and applies to all shipping regions and to gift subs, too.
Issue 24 continues to be in a manner of all places: in the Fauvists’ lair; at a party conference and here it is in Provence.
The summer holidays are in full swing; we await your photos of the magazine relaxing. Send them through to editorial@the-fence.com or tag us on social media and you can win a chi-chi bottle of Champagne.
Our ‘vertical’, Capital Letter, is really coming into its own. Last week, we asked an anonymous posse of chefs and sommeliers – and Jay Rayner – for their nominations for the worst wine list in London. You can read the full thing here.
To business!
The Pleasure Gardens
Bron Maher has covered a difficult topic brilliantly and incisively. Chemsex – the use of drugs like GHB, methadone and crystal meth (‘Tina’) in the bedroom – has steadily become a bigger part of the gay hookup scene. This is particularly true of a smallish area in south London marked by Vauxhall, Oval and Stockwell stations, the ‘Tina Triangle’.
For some, it is just a new part of the scene, something to be enjoyed or not, perhaps even profited off. For others, it is to be heavily opposed and discouraged. Brohn spoke to participants, ex-participants, dealers and academics. It is a phenomenal piece of writing and is now up on our website for those of you who have still neglected to get a physical copy of Issue 24. One of the bravest pieces we’ve run in a while.
My Donny
You know what London needs more of? Kebab shops. That, presumably, is the thinking behind ‘Donny’s Doners’, a new elevated kebabery in Hackney. Run by DJs – and presumably – for DJs. For just £17 (seventeen pounds sterling for a kebab) you can enjoy a delightful meal whilst being serenaded by the dulcet beats provided by owner cum raver Simon Bays, AKA Alien Communications. Choose from a menu which includes the London, Istanbul, Berlin and Alexandria, and partake in a dessert of Turkish bread pudding and pistachio cream. The launch party featured performances from KT, Lukas Wigflex, Papa Nugs and Theo Kottis, so you know it was good. Walk, don’t run, to E8 (where else) for an experience that asks: what if London small plates food culture suddenly became exponentially worse and more annoying?
Weathering the Storm
The Bishop is the most westerly lighthouse in the British Isles. Until 1991, it was still a fully manned operation, using equipment dating back to when it was built. In 1858. This documentary from 1973 follows the crew who manned it, living within its curved walls for two-month intervals, with only one away from the perilous rock.
It is a marvel to see the old equipment, a fog signal which involves routinely setting off an explosion and the perilous way the men have to hoist themselves via harness onto the platform. It is also a documentary made in a wonderfully old-fashioned, rather cinematic style, with remarkably candid and poetic interviews mixing with beautiful shots of water lapping against the rock, or the vast spherical lens rotating silently. It is a brilliant watch.
Ed, Edd and Freddie
‘Gary would pitch any time, any place, anywhere, even funerals. Once he approached a woman he didn’t know to ask, “Have you any idea of the Wi-Fi code, darling?” “You insensitive bastard,” replied the grieving widow. “Is that lower case?”’
Will Buckley’s toast to Gary Fairfull, the man who invented Shoreditch, is a must-read and, rather wonderfully, his son Freddie, who sang at Gary’s wake at the end of the piece, is still making music. You can find his Instagram here.
Breaking News
Last year, we published Yoel Noorali’s fantastic piece of fiction ‘Scenes From an Italian Restaurant’, which followed the trials of a journalist trying to expose a group of window-smashers in south London.
It’s a great read, but it is also based on very real events, which have just come more fully to light. Businesses across the capital were getting their windows smashed with apparently no reason – nothing was taken and no other clear motive was cropping up. It turns out the common link was the glazier, who, in a bid to keep business steady, had taken to smashing up the windows they had just fixed. So began a cycle of bemused shopkeepers ringing up a man to fix their windows, only for him to come along and destroy them a few months later.
Flying Down the Runway
‘I never thought being a model meant getting your boobs out, cohabiting in fetid houseshares and spending days running to and from ‘go-sees’ where lewd men and catty gays would ogle and photograph you.’
Sophie Wilkson’s look inside the world of the worryingly common and persistent modelling scam from Issue 24 is now available to read on our website. It's a great read and part of a rich vein of fashion-based articles we’ve run in the past.
We’re thinking of Clive Martin’s dive into the fashion world’s total lack of accountability and Jade Angeles Fitton’s star-studded account of 2021’s London Fashion Week, including a grinning Kanye West’s refusal to do an interview and Will.i.am warning of an oncoming apocalypse.
If you have any stories to tell from the industry, do drop us a line at editorial@the-fence.com. We’re always keen to hear more.
First Dates
Another cracker from Issue 24, Love in a Hostile Environment, is now also online. Clare Considine spoke to three asylum seekers, Victor, Wan and Henry about what it's like to hit the dating scene while dealing with the endless perils of the UK’s asylum system. It’s as fascinating as it is touching, and a breath of fresh air amid a growing pile of hot takes and think pieces about ‘the dating scene’ these days.
Could You Lean Into the Mic a Bit?
Elsewhere our editor-in-chief, Charlie Baker has been heard, not seen on the very fine podcast How Long Gone. Hosted by Chris Black and Jason Stewart, it’s a lovely hour discussing Dishoom and The Yellow Bittern, as well as rarer details of Charlie’s life. Listen here and then listen to the one with Charli XCX.
In Case You Missed It
The most generous criminal in the world.
Seinfeld and It’s AlwaysSunny inPhiladelphia mix perfectly with music from Twin Peaks – enjoy.
A fascinating podcast on the need for degrowth from a Dutch economist and banker.
What it was like to be behind the scenes of the great cruiseliners of the early 20th century.
An old, but gold, interview with the graffiti artist responsible for the giant ‘10 FOOT’ tags across London by Miles Ellingham.
An important history of political assassinations.
And Finally
Mal Meninga is a name you might not be aware of if you’re not a rugby fan, despite its enjoyable alliteration. But there’s a reason you should be. As a player, Meninga was known as a true powerhouse. As one referee put it, ‘I felt grateful that I didn't have to tackle him because his giant thighs were lethal weapons.’ He was a titan, captaining 23 tests for Australia.
Following retirement, however, he tried to dominate a new field: politics. Buster Mottram gave it a bad run as a failed right-wing nutter, consistently getting turned down by the Tories as a candidate and then getting expelled by UKIP for trying to broker an electoral pact with the BNP. The WWE star Rick Flair twice announced in 2000 and 2004 that he was going to run to be the Governor of North Carolina before failing to produce any sort of campaign on both occasions.
But it is Meninga who is the colossus in the world of failed attempts by sportsmen to become politicians, winning on pure speed. On paper, Meninga should have been in with a shout. He was a beloved sports star and had eight years of service in the Queensland Police Service, which he joined because of his love for cop dramas. It was all nicely set up for him.
So in 2001, Meninga set up an interview to announce his candidacy for a seat in a regional Australian legislature. It’s going well and he’s halfway through a pretty reasonable sounding answer to a straightforward question, ‘Why are you standing?’ And then, something flickers in his eyes. He has a little chuckle to himself, leans back and decides to call it. ‘I’m buggered. I’m sorry.’
What was the reason behind the sudden volte-face? Ithad been a subject of speculation and mirth down under for many years, but the eventual answer was revelatory in its simplicity. On a Fox Sports programme called Queenslanders Only, Meninga talked about his extensive preparation leading up to the interview, which entailed a full six weeks of interview prep. And yet: “They asked me this question, why should people vote for me? And I hadn’t got this question in the whole six weeks of preparation.’ And so: ‘The Jiminy Cricket’s on the shoulder and told me, ‘What the bloody hell am I doing this for?’ Bugger it.’
And so another week’s supplement comes to an end. What fun it was too. Any issues do get in touch at support@the-fence.com and we’ll come back to you promptly. Buy a mag or a tote bag or a discounted subscription here. Did you know that scale, scale and scale all have different etymologies (Old Norse, Old French and Latin)? Speak soon.
All the best,
TF