In 1995, the bands tussled for No 1 – and the Britpop crown. Our writer was on the inside of the mad-for-it contest. Does The Battle accurately capture this divisive moment? And what was Noel’s problem with risotto?

“At this point, it’s Israel/Palestine. Rangers/Celtic. No one remembers how it got started. All they know is, ‘I like this team and I don’t like that team.’ The whole country’s gone fucking mad. It’s what happens in a civil war – everyone starts thinking with the blood.”

In 1995, the bands tussled for No 1 – and the Britpop crown. Our writer was on the inside of the mad-for-it contest. Does The Battle accurately capture this divisive moment? And what was Noel’s problem with risotto?

“At this point, it’s Israel/Palestine. Rangers/Celtic. No one remembers how it got started. All they know is, ‘I like this team and I don’t like that team.’ The whole country’s gone fucking mad. It’s what happens in a civil war – everyone starts thinking with the blood.”

In 1995, the bands tussled for No 1 – and the Britpop crown. Our writer was on the inside of the mad-for-it contest. Does The Battle accurately capture this divisive moment? And what was Noel’s problem with risotto?

“At this point, it’s Israel/Palestine. Rangers/Celtic. No one remembers how it got started. All they know is, ‘I like this team and I don’t like that team.’ The whole country’s gone fucking mad. It’s what happens in a civil war – everyone starts thinking with the blood.”

Engineering work means there will be no mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes from 3-8 April

Rail passengers planning to travel over the Easter break face disrupted journeys owing to a six-day shutdown on Britain’s biggest intercity line.

Engineering work means that there will be no mainline services on the west coast mainline between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday (3 April) to Wednesday 8 April.

Engineering work means there will be no mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes from 3-8 April

Rail passengers planning to travel over the Easter break face disrupted journeys owing to a six-day shutdown on Britain’s biggest intercity line.

Engineering work means that there will be no mainline services on the west coast mainline between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday (3 April) to Wednesday 8 April.

Engineering work means there will be no mainline services between London Euston and Milton Keynes from 3-8 April

Rail passengers planning to travel over the Easter break face disrupted journeys owing to a six-day shutdown on Britain’s biggest intercity line.

Engineering work means that there will be no mainline services on the west coast mainline between London Euston and Milton Keynes from Good Friday (3 April) to Wednesday 8 April.

I’ve lost count of the number of sketches I wrote from the chemo ward as Jill went through the hell of cancer treatment

It’s been a while since I last wrote the digested week. Last May, my wife was diagnosed with cancer and life has been a struggle ever since. Jill’s story is hers to tell, but here are some of my initial thoughts on finding myself a primary carer on the cancer frontline (it’s always been me who’s needed looking after up till now). From that first consultation, when the doctor told us that a blood test for a tumour marker had come back raised – “How seriously should we take this?” “Very” – I had a feeling of being separated from the rest of the world. I was in a shadowland. There were those of us in Cancerworld and those who weren’t. It wasn’t that we stopped seeing family and friends – far from it, we couldn’t have got through without their love and food parcels – more that at an emotional level we were out of sync with one another. My life has become existential. I wake up every morning thinking about cancer and I go to bed thinking of cancer.

I’ve lost count of the number of sketches I wrote from the chemo ward as Jill went through the hell of cancer treatment

It’s been a while since I last wrote the digested week. Last May, my wife was diagnosed with cancer and life has been a struggle ever since. Jill’s story is hers to tell, but here are some of my initial thoughts on finding myself a primary carer on the cancer frontline (it’s always been me who’s needed looking after up till now). From that first consultation, when the doctor told us that a blood test for a tumour marker had come back raised – “How seriously should we take this?” “Very” – I had a feeling of being separated from the rest of the world. I was in a shadowland. There were those of us in Cancerworld and those who weren’t. It wasn’t that we stopped seeing family and friends – far from it, we couldn’t have got through without their love and food parcels – more that at an emotional level we were out of sync with one another. My life has become existential. I wake up every morning thinking about cancer and I go to bed thinking of cancer.

I’ve lost count of the number of sketches I wrote from the chemo ward as Jill went through the hell of cancer treatment

It’s been a while since I last wrote the digested week. Last May, my wife was diagnosed with cancer and life has been a struggle ever since. Jill’s story is hers to tell, but here are some of my initial thoughts on finding myself a primary carer on the cancer frontline (it’s always been me who’s needed looking after up till now). From that first consultation, when the doctor told us that a blood test for a tumour marker had come back raised – “How seriously should we take this?” “Very” – I had a feeling of being separated from the rest of the world. I was in a shadowland. There were those of us in Cancerworld and those who weren’t. It wasn’t that we stopped seeing family and friends – far from it, we couldn’t have got through without their love and food parcels – more that at an emotional level we were out of sync with one another. My life has become existential. I wake up every morning thinking about cancer and I go to bed thinking of cancer.