Mark Steel

Commentator and stand-up comedian Mark Steel has presented several radio and television programmes, and appeared on Have I Got News for You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In 2006 he published Vive La Revolution: A Stand-up History of the French Revolution, and in 2000 stood as a candidate in the London Assembly elections.

Mark Steel: Not all their careers will end in failure

It looks like the next stage of the New Labour project is for the leaders to become proper celebrities. Mandelson's doing well so far, with his advert for The Times being impressively putrid, in which he publicises the serialisation of his book by sitting in a camp Gothic pose purring "I am the Prince of Darkness". But it fails in one respect, that the reason he's called the Prince of Darkness isn't because he played Dracula in a film or always wore a cloak, it's because he really is the Prince of bloody Darkness. It's like the difference between one of the Chuckle Brothers doing an advert where he says: "I'm a nutcase I am", and one in which a similar line was said by Raoul Moat.

Recently by Mark Steel

Even in Greenland, passions run deep

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

Mark Steel: The population of a packed Old Trafford is 11,000 more than the whole of Greenland.

Mark Steel: Who needs schools anyway?

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, has already made two announcements this week, declaring that schools should revive the art of "deep thought", and cancelling £700m worth of school building projects. Which is handy, because for deep thought all you need is a hill to sit on and you can contemplate for months at a time without ever needing to go indoors. You don't hear Tibetan monks grumbling, "Ooh, I don't have a building to sit in, so how can I become at one with the rhythm of my own breathing? Please, master, my mum said I shouldn't sit out in a strong wind for more than three days?"

Mark Steel: It takes a goal (and a few Amstels) for Dutch courage to kick in

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Fan's eye view: At last, they were a proper football crowd, screaming, squealing, no longer fated to lose

Mark Steel: It's that old decline and fall again

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

How long does it take for a nation that once had an empire to come to terms with the fact it's no longer as important as it was? Do people from Rome still go around singing "Carthage, Galls and Southern Spain doo-da, doo-dah?". This is a vital question as we ponder our latest humiliation.

Mark Steel: The hugs were crushing, but Serbs take defeat well

Saturday, 26 June 2010

Fan's Eye View

Mark Steel: If only we were all in it together

Thursday, 24 June 2010

There's already been one positive outcome of the Budget, which is the pleasure of watching Liberal Democrats squirm as they try to justify the stuff that a few weeks ago they screamed would be a disaster. Tomorrow Clegg will mutter, "Look, when we said the Tories were planning a VAT bombshell, the point we were making was this country needed a VAT bombshell and only the Tories were planning it, but they were too modest in hiding their marvellous bombshell plans, so we were trying to help them. You see."

Mark Steel: Traffic warning, avoid Ghanaian pubs tonight

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

Fan's eye view

South Koreans of Surrey know how to bang a gong

Saturday, 19 June 2010

Mark Steel: If anyone's wondering where to watch South Korea's final match in Group B on Tuesday, they should go to New Malden.

Mark Steel: They reckon we've never had it so bad

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

How long will this government keep their trick going, of announcing every few days: "Oh my goodness, the books are even worse than we thought. It turns out Alistair Darling left a whole year's VAT on a bus. But he didn't put it on the accounts thingy so never mind, we'll just have to make even more cuts I suppose"? The day before the budget George Osborne will make a statement that: "This morning I had a call from Blockbusters, and they informed me that Jack Straw neglected to pay the late return fee on Call of Duty, a game he took out for use on his Xbox. As a result the Treasury owes £4m more than was previously believed to be the case, which makes it a necessity that we sell off the Post Office."