The Fence, Issue 18

About The Fence

The Fence has rapidly developed a devoted readership for its scurillous and very English mix of humour, investigation and politics. Smartly presented in black and red with copious illustration, it’s a unique publication that describes itself as ‘The UK’s only magazine’. Patently untrue of course, perhaps a better description comes from Graydon Carter: ‘the illegitimate offspring of Private Eye and Evelyn Waugh.’

In this Issue:

Within Issue 18, we have assembled our strongest line-up yet, and permit us to run through the whole team sheet here. We’ve got Booker Prize winner, John Banville, with a gorgeous reverie on his first love in County Wexford; the incomparably brilliant Geoff Dyer questions whether we ever do ‘come of age’; Michael Gillard, the country’s leading investigative journalist, tells a tale of Soho vice at the Windmill Theatre; Nesrine Malik, a star columnist at the Guardian, takes a sideways glance at her fellow elderly millennials and Fiona Mozley, who was nominated for the Booker Prize for her debut novel, remembers a séance where she summoned the spirit of Oscar Wilde (allegedly).

Elsewhere, Patrick Galbraith takes an uncomfortable look at a beloved teacher who committed suicide; Jimmy McIntosh tries – and fails – to take a bunch of new media sad lads for a night out at The Standard Hotel; Roísín Lanigan channels the spirit of Emily Ratajkowski as a chic young divorcée; Joe Bishop takes a trip to the first Japanese maid café in London; Clive Martin rolls back the years in Camden markets; Ian Martin, the co-writer of Veep and The Death of Stalin, celebrates the glory years of 1968-1971; Ed Cumming returns for another free lunch and we’ve got a wonderful short story from Madeleine Brettingham, who has written for Have I Got News for You and That Mitchell and Webb Look.

It’s a real pleasure to have Hussein Kesvani in our pages, and with a dispatch from the dogging scene in suburban Kent, too. William Clarke has done another perfect little quiz for us and Robbie Armstrong delves into the myth of the Catman of Greenock. There are lots of little pieces from the editorial team as well. We pride ourselves on making space for young writers, and we’re delighted to have pieces from Louis Elton, Miles Rebeiro, Rosie Hewitson, Harvey James and Eve Webster.

Davey Jones’ cover is an all-time great, and we’ve also got illustrations by Natalya Lobanova, Paul Cox and Miki Lowe, all overseen by Mathias Clottu as art director.