God save the king? What about the planet? - May 2023 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - May 14th, 2023

As a boy, in 1977, I made a stupid monkey face at Queen Elizabeth II as she drove past us in Solihull’s Mell Square on her silver jubilee perambulations. “You aren’t funny, Stewart,” my gran said of the subsequent photograph, unaware that I would one day be declared “the world’s greatest living standup comedian” (the…

The anti-fraud Tories? You couldn’t make it up… - May 2023 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - May 7th, 2023

On Wednesday, Rishi Sunak opened his tiny mouth wide, as wide as it could possibly go, and announced “a new plan to stop scams at the source and help make it easier for people to protect themselves from fraudsters”. Meanwhile, his former boss Boris Johnson, who had persuaded some mug to pay for his wallpaper…

Sunak’s sushi train Tories are like a banquet of filth - April 2023 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - April 30th, 2023

All across the land the emergency alarm went off. Oliver Dowden had been appointed deputy prime minister. The harsh metallic tone of the mobile phone sounded suspiciously like the rattle of a barrel being scraped bare. Metal on metal. There’s not an ounce of talent left in the Tory party. If it was a circus…

Britain is a dying nation in need of new curators - April 2023 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - April 16th, 2023

The Conservatives are a defeated army in vindictive retreat, robbing the museums and cathedrals as they head for the hills; setting fire to, and laying waste to, every institution in their wake; poisoning the rivers and destroying the food supplies; leaving only a barren mess for the incoming Labour government to shoulder the blame for.…

After Garygate, I’ve shown my BBC licence fee the red card - March 2023 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - March 19th, 2023

On Monday, like some Tunbridge Wells Daily Telegraph Tory who puts his foot through the television in a fury and sends Lenny Henry and Clare Balding the bill, I went online and cancelled my television licence. Why should I subsidise the rotting corpse of the BBC? It was once an idealistic public institution, but the…

Brexit has reversed the brains of Sunak and Starmer - March 2023 The Observer - By Stewart Lee - March 5th, 2023

The contradictions of the Brexit era confound comedy. Having publicly extolled the virtues of Northern Ireland’s access to the single market on Tuesday, Rishi Sunak was momentarily so engorged by exciting economics he forgot the ideological implications of what he was saying, while Tory advisers chewed off their feet backstage. The Tory Brexiter Sunak is…