Julie Burchill

Joe Lycett and the trouble with wokescreening

The word 'wokescreen' is (like its naughty older sibling, the carelessly carbon-producing smokescreen), an alibi which hides the truth about a nefarious action.

What happened to Lenny Henry?

The once great comedian has become a woke bore, wondering out loud why Glastonbury is 'so white', writes Julie Burchill.

A good week for Channel 4, actually. Caitlin Moran, who will soon surely be so well known she can go about being known by just her first name (just so's you know, the opening syllable is "Cat", as in "cat", not "Kate", for befuddling but I seem to remember nice reasons), has again given us something good, in addition to journalism and her runaway bestseller, How to Be a Woman, in the shape of a highly moreish comedy.

Raised By Wolves, essentially the story of her own Wolverhampton childhood and co-written with her sister Caz, aims to celebrate that relentlessly ignored televisual beast, the witty and bright working class. It won't be to absolutely everyone's taste - bigots who like to lump the poor under the adjective "feckless", thickos who like their humour less subtle, that distinct super-breed of men who still think lady-periods unmentionable - but it was very sweet, will get even funnier, and is crackling with talent to celebrate, in young Helen Monks and Alexa Davies and this opener's standout star, Pulling's Rebekah Staton. I worry only that the trend, in both broadcasting and newspapers, is increasingly biased these happy days against female writers who are a) terrifyingly bright and funny, and b) technically below the salt, in terms of privileged ability to fund themselves through three-year internships for sod-all pay. Thank goodness historically, then, for Caitlin, for Julie Burchill, for our own Barbara Ellen, but shall we see many of their likes again?

The unbearable smugness of Sandi Toksvig

I love the Danes. If they want to ban Marmite, that's fine by me. Yes of course it's tasty, in small doses, but isn't there something inherently WRONG about something of which A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY? If it's so great, why would you have to SPREAD THINLY? What other foodstuff takes as its USP the fact that LOTS OF PEOPLE HATE IT? Face it, if Marmite was a person, it would be a pervert.

Now they've banned Marmite, can we ban Sandi Toksvig?

We, as you should, will be beginning election night with C4. Their Alternative Election Night is a kicking-off point, where you can watch Jimmy Carr deliver uncomfortable jokes about how ugly politicians are, Charlie Brooker deliver anger you can tell he no longer feels and Lauren Laverne make some vowels last an instant too long. The Election Special Come Dine With Me is infuriating and not just because of Brian Paddick's shirts and Rod Liddle's Julie Burchill-style provocateering. Comes to something when Edwina Currie is clearly the least annoying person on screen. Armando Iannucci is on at 10.