Writes about modern British politics and pop culture. Featured in the Times, Spectator, UnHerd, Lion & Unicorn and the Critic. Also available on Substack.
behind the sofa
Joined April 2022
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- Following468
- Followers1.7K
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Pinned Tweet
Fight night on Fright Night!
Ben Thomas and I have a frank exchange of views over Doctor Who’s 1977 Halloween classic Image of the Fendahl.
Gothic masterpiece or load of old toot? You decide!
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/1…
Finlay McLaren retweeted
do please read this
"SIR — Will you join me this Halloween in viewing ‘Image of the Fendahl’? The tipping point between early Fourth Doctor gothic magnificence and later Fourth Doctor cash-strapped silliness"
@fin_lay24 & @Summers2theB go tentacle to tentacle👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/1…
Finlay McLaren retweeted
"It seems to hold all the qualities of the Platonic Form ‘mid-1970s Doctor Who story’: a spooky English village beset by scary monsters until the day is saved by the one with the long scarf & a girl who keeps asking questions"
@fin_lay24 on the 49th anniversary of Fendahl — 🔗👇
Finlay McLaren retweeted
The more I think about what Finlay and I wrote together the more I feel that this may be my finest hour. What an achievement. It's like Torvill and Dean's Bolero at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics.
I'm Dean, obviously.
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/1…
Finlay McLaren retweeted
Who says civility is dead?
Readers of Ben & Finlay's latest piece for Lion & Unicorn, that's who👇
Fight night on Fright Night!
Ben Thomas and I have a frank exchange of views over Doctor Who’s 1977 Halloween classic Image of the Fendahl.
Gothic masterpiece or load of old toot? You decide!
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/1…
Finlay McLaren retweeted
Fight night on Fright Night!
Ben Thomas and I have a frank exchange of views over Doctor Who’s 1977 Halloween classic Image of the Fendahl.
Gothic masterpiece or load of old toot? You decide!
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/1…
'Somehow, Palpatine returned.'
Oh dear. Watch: Jane Austen’s most famous line spoken on screen for first time
thetimes.com/article/8ff1dc6…
Finlay McLaren retweeted
Very odd. This will be regarded as a secular evangelical religion, a mania that swept through our political and media elites.
Pretty much no one else ever succumbed to this.
Finlay McLaren retweeted
@fin_lay24 very tempted to change my username to little piss boy. You are so influential.
This morning, I saw a guy in Sainsbury’s frantically cramming stuff into his pockets while one of the staff members watched.
The guy then ran out with the stuff, and the shop worker said to me, “It’s better just to let them do it, most of them are on drugs anyway.”
So @sainsburys my question is this, can I make use of this discount? Because this junkie fuck got a lot of good stuff. It was like Supermarket Sweep!
Finlay McLaren retweeted
Jimmy Carr was on Joe Rogan again today and I thought they must have reuploaded an old episode because Jimmy Carr kept saying same prepared hackneyed deepities he said last time! They still managed to re-blow Joe Rogan's mind every time
Finlay McLaren retweeted
"SIR — Will you join me this Halloween in viewing ‘Image of the Fendahl’? The tipping point between early Fourth Doctor gothic magnificence and later Fourth Doctor cash-strapped silliness"
@fin_lay24 & @Summers2theB go tentacle to tentacle👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2026/1…