STAN & OLLIE

Saw this yesterday and would highly recommend it. As well as the obligatory "behind the scenes" crisis storyline, there's loads of recreations of scenes which remind you how funny they were.

Kicking off 2019...

I find it impossible not to like this.

Barts 2018 - Watling

Best Album

John Field, Piano Concertos No. 2 & 4 - Benjamin Frith, David Haslam and Northen Sinfonia

Best Song
Alice Merton - No Roots

Best Musical Re-discovery
I haven’t rediscovered anything this year

Best Middle-Aged Man/Men Doing Excellent – If Hardly Ground-breaking - Stuff
I started to build a permanent Scalextric track up in the loft

Best Film
Avengers - Infinity War

Best Book
My Age of Anxiety - Scott Stossel

Best Gig/Event
I haven’t been to any gigs or events this year

Best TV Programme
The Informer

Best Radio Programme
Alexander Armstrong’s show on Classic FM 

Best Website
TheGuardian.com

Best Sporting Moment
Spurs finishing in the top four. Again. 

Revelation
Christine & The Queens

Worst Purchase / Disappointment
My purchases this year have been largely satisfactory. 

Best Child-Related Thing
Finding a massive tub of my old Lego in my Mum’s loft, then watching Megan and Peter use their imaginations playing with basic Lego bricks. 

Best Lifestyle Change
Working outside London was good, but brief. 

Sort
Elizabeth Olsen 

Person, People or Thing You’d Most Like to See Set Upon By a Pack of Wolves
Brexit 

The Winning Thing You’d Most Recommend Your Fellow Judges to Own/Have/Consume/Do
A car with an Ecoboost engine

Barts 2018 - Monteath

Best Album

Best Song

The stuff I have gone back to and listened to again most often is:

The Orielles, Suede, TVAM, Hannah Peel, Loma

Best Musical Re-discovery

Gruff Rhys’ back catalogue

Best Middle-Aged Man/Men Doing Excellent – If Hardly Ground-breaking – Stuff

Suede, Johnny Marr

Best Book

The Line of Beauty

Best Gig/Event

Kendall Calling generally, Shed Seven specifically. Great combo of it stopping raining, being half-cut, neither child moaning, and the band savouring every moment

Best TV Programme

Inside No 9 followed closely by Killing Eve

Best Radio Programme (That I Haven’t Previously Nominated)

Alkerpop’s “Unclassified” (it’s on Radio 3, Steve)

Best Sporting Moment

Rich pickings here, but both mah Fitba’ and Cricket teams being champions (by a distance) is a nicely unexpected thing.

Revelation

Really enjoyed Neneh Cherry’s stuff, really enjoyed some out and out rock in Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Worst Purchase / Disappointment

A lack of any real breakthrough/”wow” music – I’ll just have to search harder this year (between 10.30 and 1)

Best Child-Related Thing

Yet to bear full fruit, but the camper van should be a gift that keeps giving.

Best Lifestyle Change

Running. I was dabbling this time last year, now I’m committed, building up distance and hills and thoroughly enjoying.

Sort

I will watch any programme featuring Keeley Hawes

Person, People or Thing You’d Most Like to See Set Upon By a Pack of Wolves

Pretty much the entire political class. No leaders, no ideas, no vision – when there’s a massive gaping hole to be filled.

The Winning Thing You’d Most Recommend Your Fellow Judges to Own/Have/Consume/Do

Listen to The Blue Hour

Barts 2018 - Kelly

Best Album

Villagers: The Art of Pretending to Swim

Elvis Costello: Look Now

Lump: Lump

Best Song

Janelle Monae: The Way You Make me Feel

Marianne Faithfull: My Gypsy Faerie Queen

Unknown Mortal Orchestra: American Guilt

Thom Yorke: Suspirium

Best Musical Re-discovery

The Cure: Disintegration

Best Middle-Aged Man/Men Doing Excellent – If Hardly Ground-breaking – Stuff

The Elvis Costello album

Best Film

Beast

You Were Never Really Here

Three Billboards…

Best Book

Neil Gaiman: Norse Mythology

Best Gig/Event

Ash @ The Trades Club

Best TV Programme

Patrick Melrose

Killing Eve

Best Radio Programme

Radconie

Best website

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/

Best Sporting Moment

Hughies’s hat-trick against Warley Town

Revelation

Liverpool FC

Worst Purchase / Disappointment

The new John Grant album

Best Child-Related Thing

Amateur drama: good for them and gets them out of the house regularly for a long time

Best Lifestyle Change

Work has been somewhat all consuming this year. I need to work on this category for next year.

Sort

My wife

Person, People or Thing You’d Most Like to See Set Upon By a Pack of Wolves

The numerous audience members on Question Time who say anything relating to “taking back control” or “we did fine by ourselves before”

The Winning Thing You’d Most Recommend Your Fellow Judges to Own/Have/Consume/Do

On the basis that I think not many of you have … seek out Patrick Melrose