Column by David in The Times.

I FEEL A BIT SORRY FOR Jeffrey Archer. Now I know that he doesn’t usually inspire much sympathy, but I always think it a bit heartbreaking when someone does something absurdly transparent to justify their bad behaviour or claw back some small slice of public affection, and The Gospel According to Judas— as most critics have pointed out, clearly a roman à clef about Jeffrey the unjustly accused, Jeffrey the misunderstood, Jeffrey the man with the unfairly blackened name, Jeffrey Iscariot etc — seems a cast-iron example of such.

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Column by David in The Times.

THIS MAY SURPRISE YOU, BUT IN MY other life — the showbiz one — I don’t actually pay much attention to the work I get offered. Most of the things I have done on television have been self-generated ideas. Most of the things I get offered are of the Celebrity My Parrot Can Swear! / A Bunch of Talking Heads Talk About Things that Used to be on Television / And Now…a Jew Hosts this Bit of Ethnic Programming variety. So generally I hardly give them a glance. Last week, though, something came in that I am considering doing, which is hosting a panel show about books.

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Column by David in The Times.

AS HAS BEEN POINTED OUT elsewhere, it was a slightly disappointing Oscars this year for the British. I’m not entirely sure why anyone should be that disappointed since history always proves that the best films never win – to chose one example from hundreds, the monstrosity of Gandhi beating E. T. in 1982, continued resentment from which may itself be responsible for the lack of garlands awarded to Britfilms this year. As far as I can make out from Sky One’s live coverage of the red carpet, the Oscars is mainly an opportunity for gay German and Japanese caterers to have a ball with their cake designs.

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