Radio column: The delights of a shore-fire success

How has Desert Island Discs done it? How has it survived decades of culls and re-branding to become a broadcasting institution, seemingly impervious to change and yet still crushing the competition with ease?
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Lana Del Rey: A beguiling beauty who's more than a one-hit wonder

Since the singer's Video Games became a YouTube hit, her backstory has been the target of endless sniping. Just enjoy the mesmerising music, says Fiona Sturges
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Radio column: I'm sorry, but the celebrity satirists haven't got a clue

Radio 2's Hot Gossip is a panel show hosted by Claudia Winkleman about celebrity tittle-tattle, but not in the shameless we-don't-care-if-you-think-we're-shallow sense. It is, in fact, propelled by shame.
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Radio column: The voice of the people - Derbyshire vs Vine

Victoria Derbyshire or Jeremy Vine? It's a bit like asking whether you're a cat or a dog person. If you are disposed to radio phone-in shows then chances are you have a preference.
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Book review: The Last Holiday: A Memoir, By Gil Scott-Heron

In the latter half of his life, Gil Scott-Heron was in bad shape. This once prolific, articulate and highly politicised writer and musician, best known for "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", had entered a creative cul-de-sac.
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Radio column: The stylus gurus spinning a good yarn

Being a radio DJ is a cinch nowadays. Where once upon a time a DJ had to haul crates of records into work, now they can simply take in their iPod, set it to shuffle and then lie down for an executive nap.
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Radio column: Stir in childhood memories and simmer

Food is wasted on the radio. If cooking on television is the equivalent of being invited to dine at the chef's table, only to watch with distress as the dishes are taken elsewhere, doing it on the radio is like being denied entry to the restaurant altogether and, deranged with hunger, listening to the sound of chewing through the door.
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Radio column: Festive cheer with comedy classics

Take down the tinsel, unplug the lights, remove that life-size glowing reindeer from the roof: Christmas has been called off
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Stay The Night: Hôtel Americano, New York

Attaching an enormous steel grille to the front of your hotel might not seem the best way to attract guests. Want to feel like a zoo animal? Come on in!
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Radio column: In the company of men

It was around 7.57am last Friday, while listening to the Today programme, that I started quietly banging my head on the kitchen table.
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Radio column: You can't always get what you want

Does all modern music sound the same to you? Do you hanker for the days when rock stars knew how to be rock stars? Does the sight of teenagers with their trousers at half-mast make your spleen explode? Have you – though you swore it would never happen – finally morphed into your parents? If so, perhaps it's time to embrace the inexorable slide towards an old age of liquidised ready-meals and Antiques Roadshow.
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Radio column: No escape from reality

Radio has never fully explored the reality format so adored by television. I can't help thinking it's missing a trick here. Imagine the pleasure of hearing Just a Minute's Nicholas Parsons shattering contestants' dreams, in gentlemanly fashion, on an X Factor-style sing off: "You now have 60 seconds on Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". Hesitation! Oh, gracious me, what bad luck!"
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Music review: Kasabian, Brighton

These are tough times for the beery, leery, all-male indie-rock band. At a time when women continue to dominate the charts and synth-pop remains the overwhelming sound of choice, such acts have rarely been less fashionable than they are now.
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Book review: Hockney: A Rake's Progress by Christopher Simon Sykes

David Hockney is, we are often told, our most popular living artist. This always sounds like faint praise, as if to earn your place in the canon you're better off being dead
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Radio column: Bedtime stories that are still the stuff of dreams

Where would radio be without literature? Stuck with hours of dead air, that's where. Just as we cram our shelves with books at home, so radio commissioners use them to grout the gaps between news programmes, science documentaries and The Archers.
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