I had to turn the radio off.

I couldn’t bear the sound of John Wilson on Radio 4 fawning over Elvis Costello. Not because “Elvis” is boring, pompous and overrated but because he called Ray Charles a “blind, ignorant n*gger”. Google it. I’m not making this up. Can you imagine if Donald Trump had said that? Or Jim Davidson? The hypocrites who adore Elvis Costello and devour those obsequious pieces about him in The Guardian and The Observer would be baying for blood. Yet they choose to ignore vile racist abuse when it comes from their pet artist. I’m not advocating prosecuting people for “hate speech” even speech as hateful as that. Even when it’s directed against a man who, against almost insuperable odds, made music as sublime as this. No, I’d settle for a media moratorium on Elvis Costello so we never had to see him or hear from him ever again.