Baddiel

Two years ago, David Baddiel published an angry polemic, Jews Don’t Count, which set out to demonstrate “how identity politics failed one particular identity”. Since many on the left more or less consciously regard Jews as both privileged and “white”, he argued, they often fail to take antisemitism as seriously as other forms of racism. Despite a good deal of humour, the analysis is razor-sharp – and designed to persuade basically decent fellow progressives that they have something of a blind spot.The God Desire presents…

David Baddiel was six years old when his mother told him death was like a long sleep from which you never wake up. “I think from that point,” he says, “I never really wanted to go to sleep again.” That night, he lay on the top bunk of his bed, fervently praying – “probably” the first and last time he has prayed with any sincerity – that “my life as it was in Dollis Hill in 1971 would still somehow continue after death”.More than half a century later Baddiel is still an insomniac, and he’s still terrified by the prospect…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeDavid Baddiel has weighed in after Hugh Grant was called out on social media for what some called “obnoxious” behaviour on the Oscars red carpet.The actor, known for his dry sense of humour, was interviewed by model Ashley Graham, at the ceremony last night (12 March).Graham did not seem prepared for Grant’s very short answers to questions about the Knives Out franchise and what he was…

It’s coming home, it’s coming home … You know how it goes. Hang on, though: it came home, didn’t it? In July, when the Lionesses beat Germany with a dramatic extra-time winner at Wembley to win Euro 2022. It was England’s first major trophy since Bobby Moore, Jack and Bobby Charlton, Nobby Stiles, Gordon Banks, Geoff Hurst etc won the World Cup in 1966. With all those years of hurt finally over, David Baddiel said he was happy for his song, Three Lions, to be “put to bed”.Guess what, though: it just got up again, for the…

The England football anthem Three Lions should be “put to bed” after the Lionesses’ triumph in the Euro 2022 final, David Baddiel has said.“The women have reset the clock,” Baddiel, one of the trio behind the hit, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme after the win, which erased 56 years of England failing to win a trophy. While the men’s England team have yet to reset their clock, having reached the Euro 2020 final only to lose in penalties, Baddiel added “football carries on with its ups and downs”.The Three Lions song by…