The Critic Magazine

Tip? Don’t bet on it

BACK IN THE 1990S, I wrote a weekly betting column for the Evening Standard. It was a brilliant idea by the paper’s deputy editor, Don Berry, because it had a unique feature.

The whole point was that I was useless.

Newspapers have far less racing coverage today than before but even in these denuded times they still all have their tipsters. They’re varying degrees of useless, but no one ever admits it. As

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Critic Magazine

The Critic Magazine2 min read
Nova’s Diary
“I can’t decide,” says Rishi. “What do you think?” “The blue socks are nice, darling,” says Akshata. We are in the flat. Rishi has been a bit down lately. There has been some voting happening in local places, but not very much of it was for him. Jame
The Critic Magazine6 min read
“Critical Space” Is Shrinking But We Are Fighting Back
WHAT CRETIN SAID THAT NOBODY EVER erected a monument to a critic? (I’ll tell you: it was that lugubrious drunk Jean Sibelius). Actually, he could simply have added “at least, not in a good way”. It’s a monument made of vibrating air rather than marbl
The Critic Magazine2 min read
Everyday Lies
MUCH THOUGH I TRY TO AVOID IT, SOMETIMES AN ARTICLE on the BBC’s website appears on what is called my “feed” — surely a revealing term if ever there was one. I am treated like a pig at the informational (and advertising) trough. But what I read is st

Related