Author: Jimmy Andrex

Can pies have meaning? What connects the Finding Jack Charlton documentary and a date with Dorothy Parker at the Russian Tea Rooms? Why do Look North presenters dress so badly?

Just over a year since it had to be postponed as a result of Covid-19, Chapel FM Arts Centre in East Leeds is presenting a three-day radio and digital festival, Writing on Air. Based around the theme of Vision, writers and performers will be taking part in over thirty events, including a radio drama peering into […]

One prominent NHS figure thinks we need to re-evaluate our thinking on Test and Trace. “Shurely Shome Mistake?” Test and Trace is really a winner! If everybody’s saying something, it must be true, right? Usually, the answer is yes, for a good reason, though this truism is lost on people like the Flat Earth Society. […]

A year ago, as we entered a thing called lockdown, people dealt with it in different ways. As is often the case when in denial facing a traumatic situation, people routinely announced via social media that this was their opportunity to paint the fence, write THAT novel, take up ceramics or learn the clarinet. In […]

Farmer Copley’s pork pies are lovely, but for true joy, you’ll have to wait till they’re properly open and have one of their sausage sandwiches.

Brexit means the United Kingdom’s fishing industry is under the microscope as never before. A new film made in Yorkshire, seeks to help us to understand fishing’s crucial importance to people in coastal communities. Shot in Scarborough and supported by the British Film Institute, The Tide stars Game of Thrones actor Francis Magee and will premiere […]

As Covid-19 infection rates continue to fall, many have wondered why local rates in West Yorkshire remain stubbornly high. According to Anna Hartley, director of public health for Wakefield, the nature of work in the region is the major driver of infection.

A pensioner performing a poem about male breast cancer, a York indie publisher, and a whole heap of persistence, have come together to produce a debut poetry collection for one writer at the tender age of 68.

Served over the counter with peas, chips and gravy, it doesn’t have to impress Heston Blumenthal or a colour supplement foodie. Anyway, what is a foodie? “I like food”—how original. Do you also like air? Water? Shelter?”

I don’t suppose Donald Trump was living in Wolverhampton in the 90’s. And I don’t suppose, even if he was there, he went dancing in The Web with his blonde Lego hair.

Jimmy Andrex reviews our pie of the week – a mushroom and leek pie from Denby Dale, West Yorkshire. “It’s warm, it’s got a crust and it tastes comforting and fabulous.”

“t’s not just musicians who’ll suffer if they can’t tour Europe. It’s the sound engineers, the lighting engineers, the backline techs. It’s the caterers and the wardrobe assistants and the production managers. It’s the drivers of trucks and tour buses. It’s the companies they work for, it’s the mechanics they employ. It’s PA companies, and lighting companies. And it’s the businesses here, in the UK”

Jimmy Andrex reviews the pie of the week – this time from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. “At the end of our walk, seeking refuge from a grim sense of foreboding, I greeted the news that my favourite pie – steak, ale and Henderson’s Relish – was on the specials board with the same relief as when I heard about the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.”

Jimmy Andrex reviews the pie of the week – this time from William Noble Family Butchers in Wakefield. “A Noble’s steak pie is an everyday celebration of wholesome certainty; like a grittier version of The Waltons. They’re freshly made every day, the oven’s in the shop and the smell when they open the door should be regulated by some sort of statute”.

As Dr Stella Perrott outlined on Christmas Eve, reviews of disasters and serious incidents provide ample warning signs about the way Brexit is being handled. This is Jimmy Andrex’s take on her article.

Jimmy Andrex reviews the pie of the week – this time from Cryer & Stott, at Castleford market. “If you ever had sex better than this pie you’re either a liar or I need to get to know you better. If you ever took drugs better than this pie, you must be on drugs – cheap, bad ones that make you think the traffic in South Elmsall are crocodiles.”

Jimmy Andrex looks at what the last year has meant for the Labour Party, through the lens of the 5 stages of grief. The question is, which stage has the party reached?

In troubled times, with rampant division, there remains one part of our culture about which there must surely be widespread unity, especially in the forgotten land of the North of England: Pies.

“Lockdown has helped me to focus on our lifestyles and what’s really important to me.”

Orange Zombie, by Rose Drew

Huddersfield singer Johnny Campbell has got together with other artists to release a charity song, raising money for The Welcome Centre foodbank in Huddersfield, and the charity Help Musicians UK.

How a Holmfirth musician battled the Brexit Blues with electronica and a sense of community. A new book tells the story of an underground revolution in music where no-one got rich or famous but everyone got happy. “The early days were like turning over a stone and finding this whole new world of music-making crawling underneath.“

On a visit to South Eastern Michigan poetry group

What did you do in lockdown? Bradford-based Trapezium Arts is hosting a brand new exhibition of one artist’s response to the coronavirus crisis. Sue Wilde’s show, entitled The Covid 19, is based on road maps, using the routes, towns and coastlines to create a vivid picture of life in lockdown.  “During the first lockdown, needing to […]

On the Penistone train derailment, February 1916 When I look up at the seamed sky, the black teeth of girders, the cracks of fresh air, I think this is not an accident, but a moment of refusal, a point I can look on and describe in bricks of words, then knock down again before it […]

And will those winds from ‘58That blew Armada back to SpainNow make the wind turbines rotateAnd help us triumph once again? And will our Covid stance be seenAs something we should celebrate?We’re proud of everything we’ve been;Like the Olympics – we are great! Back in the war, amid the gloomA new Jerusalem was planned;So now […]

You Ask Me Where I Want to Live, My Love… by Steve Pottinger it can be the tundra, a desert, a forest, a boat high on a mountain or out on the coast an apartment, a terrace, a van or a castle, a tent, yurt, or igloo, it really don’t matter but it must be […]

East Riding Council decided last week on a novel approach to communicate their 3 Steps to Safety message. In a climate where covid confusion reigns every time Mr Cummings goes for a spin in his Range Rover, they decided to use local sand artist James Brunt to get their message across. As you can see, James […]

Is Banksy working in the Wakefield area? A series of clues and new street art has fuelled speculation that the legendary graffiti artist may be at work in our area. First, a local artist, Rachel Till was forced to tweet that some Pontefract street art depicting themes around the NHS and Coronavirus was definitely hers […]

So, this dream I had, it was a film like Kill Bill, but with Emily Maitlis and Kay-Burley-off-Sky-News. Basically, they get so fed up doing clickbait interviews with whining trolls like Daniel Hannan or Darren Grimes, that they go on an intellectual Kung Fu Tag Team rampage, questioning right-wing dimwits to a pulp. In early […]