Michael Hann

Flexible and imaginative: Wednesday at the Roundhouse reviewed How is it that two things that are fundamentally the same can be completely different? Two bands, each harking back to a specific historical reference point in heavy music, each using distortion and v...

I went to see both Wednesday and Airbourne and reviewed them. spectator.com/article/flex...

Thank you. I was pleased with it

‘Everybody wants a bestie like this guy!’ Rush on rock’s most anticipated reunion – and its greatest bromance After drummer Neil Peart died in 2020, many thought the Canadian prog legends would never reform. As they book a mammoth global tour, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson explain how their lifelong bond drew th...

I interviewed Rush the other week and they were delightful. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/f...

What is a sorts opinion that is both a) supported by evidence and b) one only someone of your nationality would have?

Me (English*): Brian Clough is obviously the greatest team sports coach of all time

(* There would be no UK consensus on this)

John Mulhaney at his best is unstoppable John Mulaney appeared to be just another of those identical, slick, clean-cut, young comedians in suits until Covid. But all was not well. In December 2020, a bunch of his showbiz pals staged an inter...

Went to see John Mulaney. The headline typo is not mine. spectator.com/article/john...

Wednesday

The Benn idolisers only ever think of the cuddly, “principled”, post-Kinnock version of Benn.

Looking for guests for my new podcasts, The Rest Is Podcasts and The Podcast Agents, in which me and an amusingly contrary but also sympathetic co-host take a look at the stories behind the podcasts everyone is talking about.

Political writers need to stop describing Mandelson as having a "fatal weakness" for very, very rich people, or similar phrases. It isn't a fatal weakness. His career-long purpose has been to get close to the very, very rich and powerful as an end in itself.

Electrifying: Annie & the Caldwells, at Ronnie Scott’s, reviewed Annie & the Caldwells are a long-running family gospel ensemble from West Point, Mississippi – father and sons playing guitar, bass and drums, mother and daughters singing. The chaps offer a sinewy, s...

I reviewed terrific shows by Annie and the Caldwells and Westside Cowboy. spectator.com/article/elec...

Why have so many prime ministers in recent decades employed absolutely psychotic advisers? Psychotic press secs I kind of get, but advisers who routinely press terrible courses?

Who can forget all the masterpieces he wrote last year?

The notion that Bill Gates needed Epstein’s help to meet super rich charity donors is like Paul McCartney claiming he needed Gary Glitter to put him in touch with other rock stars.

DEADLINE DAY LATEST: Just in - there is no chance of a Real to Rotherham loan deal for Bellingham, sources say

What a “Melania” Cinematographer Hoped to Accomplish Dante Spinotti has had a legendary Hollywood career. Why is he making propaganda for the Trump family?

This is painful to read. Someone not quite grasping his interviewer is telling him he has become a de facto fascist. www.newyorker.com/culture/q-an...

Apparently no one in the Virgin c-suite knows about Google.

Brett Ratner’s comeback is going well, I see

All those billionaires and politicians and bureaucrats who kept laughing with Epstein about young girls and sex *after* he had been convicted … I have no words.

What odds that Gianni Infantino adds the inaugural FIFA Film Prize to the World Cup opening ceremony?

Lads. You've invented Rumbelows.

Have you *read* any Biggles? There’s nothing remotely coded. It’s just offensive language. It is an order of magnitude different to anything published in decades.

They are jam-packed with racism though.

RFU targets transport revamp and undercover police to sway Twickenham residents over concert plan English rugby’s governing body is launching fresh proposals to convince local residents to back its plan to host more concerts for £660m Twickenham upgrade

There is nothing they can do to make Twickenham suitable for gigs. Even if they improve the transport, there’s still just the one station, and the stadium has worse facilities than non-league football grounds. www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...

People watching the videos: They just shot him! He wasn’t attacking! The government’s lying!
News organisations, hours later: After many hours of forensic study, it appears the agents may have shot him and our analysis suggests he wasn’t carrying a gun, in apparent contradiction of federal accounts

The terms for sex workers were always gendered

Mine was not severe enough for referral. So I have to put up with the waking up unable to breathe

Why I will always have time for Bernard Butler Bernard Butler has popped up a couple of times in this column, but not alone – once, with two fellow songwriter-guitarists as Butler, Blake & Grant; but also writing and performing with Jessie Buckley...

Wrote about the wonderful Bernard Butler and two young bands. spectator.com/article/why-...

I was just thinking how well We Didn’t Start the Fire has aged

If the Western Hemisphere comes under US control, I’m going to have to move east of Greenwich to stay independent, and there’s no tube out there.

Release the beast! How Iron Maiden and a naked Ralph Fiennes created the ultimate big-screen needle drop The Number of the Beast lights up an unforgettable scene in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple thanks to director Nia DaCosta expertly blending ‘craziness and romance’

Spoke to camp Maiden and director Nia DaCosta to find out about *that* scene in The Bone Temple. www.theguardian.com/music/2026/j...