There is never going to be a good time to say this: David Mitchell (not the novelist)

I have a profound affection for David Mitchell, the writer, comedian, and actor.

I know him mostly from his work on The Unbelievable Truth, on BBC Radio 4, and Would I Lie To You, on BBC television.

Before we go any further, I want to say that I preferred him without the beard. Be that as it may.

My favourite kind of his work is when he is in “magistrate” mode on Would I Lie To You. People seem to think he is weird, because he asks for definite answers to questions, and he disputes things that people say which are obviously false, or self-contradictory.

Similarly, when he is chairing The Unbelievable Truth, contestants challenge on the flimsiest of grounds. He has to try to dredge up some kind of logic from a morass of nonsense. He does it with flair, grace, and aplomb (two words you might want to bear in mind if you are doing Wordle).

The deliberately cliched axis of comedic tension on Would I Lie To You is that David Mitchell is “posh” (whatever that means). He is not as posh as most people seem to think he is.

“Another glass of orange juice. Some more chips. A sense of purpose in life.”

If there are going to be (relatively) privileged white blokes in public life, I would much rather that they were heavyweight intellectuals like David Mitchell.

I cannot lose with David Mitchell. If something bad happens to him, that proves that my class has to be resilient. If something good happens to him, that proves he is the powerhouse that I think he is.

If he ever happens to be in West Yorkshire (as long as it is not somewhere ridiculous like Haworth) the drinks are on me.

Black Horse Poets: call for new members

Black Horse Poets and Wakefield Word are writing groups which are run as a single organisation.

Black Horse Poets meets on the last Tuesday of each month. Wakefield Word meets on the first Tuesday of each month.
Black Horse Poets is for poetry, only, but we define poetry in a broad sense.

Wakefield Word is for short fiction, poetry, short form drama, or if you insist, extracts from longer pieces.

Both groups have a time limit on readings.

Both groups have the same ethos: comments or critiques must be supportive, affirmative, constructive.

Black Horse Poets currently meets via Zoom, and we need new members. Our meetings take place on the last Tuesday of each month, at 19:00 GMT. To be eligible to join, you need to write poetry, in English.
The format of each meeting is the reading of a piece, followed by collective critiques of the piece, followed by the next piece.

If you want to join the next meeting, email w dot thirskgaskill at btinternet dot com, or search for william anderson gaskill on Facebook, and leave me a message. You can also tweet me @wthirskgaskill .

Don’t come here with your right wing detractions

I was bombarded in the 1980s with the idea that the United Kingdom was a “powder keg”.

There is no powder keg.