I’ve started writing regularly about comedy for the Morning Star.

Back in the day I had a culture column for them, writing about everything from books to video games. I seem to remember having a very earnest byline photo and a pun-based column title – “Culture Matters”, I believe. I remember being super pleased when my column would appear on the same day as that of a little-known Labour backbencher called Jeremy Corbyn.

My editor was a lovely old communist called Cliff Cocker, who would sometimes misunderstand some of the references in the copy but was ever-enthusiastic about my writing style. I was sad to hear of his death last year, but you can’t say it wasn’t a life well lived.

So far I’ve written about Sharlin Janan’s fabulous monthly night Brown Sauce, and the debut night of Julia Masai’s outsiders jamboree Comedy From Hell.

Hopefully in the lead up to Edinburgh I’ll do some interviews and features too – watch this space.