Finlay McLaren
@finlay24.bsky.social
'Our purpose is to amuse, simply to amuse. Nothing serious, nothing political.'
🐦: @fin_lay24
🐦: @fin_lay24
Pinned
Finlay McLaren
@finlay24.bsky.social
· Oct 11
Decade: Lockdown (2020)
Do you remember the covid lockdowns? asks FINLAY McLAREN. Of course you do. So why have we chosen to forget?
thelionandunicorn.com
Here's something I wrote! It's about Lockdown, lapses of memory and looking the other way.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"We laugh at them, and with them, and, crucially, we love them. The way you’re supposed to with sitcom characters."
@finlay24.bsky.social on "To the Manor Born".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/16/l...
@finlay24.bsky.social on "To the Manor Born".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/16/l...
Last Night on YouTube: To The Manor Born
In our series on individual episodes of British television, FINLAY McLAREN brings a touch of class.
thelionandunicorn.com
November 16, 2025 at 8:49 AM
"We laugh at them, and with them, and, crucially, we love them. The way you’re supposed to with sitcom characters."
@finlay24.bsky.social on "To the Manor Born".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/16/l...
@finlay24.bsky.social on "To the Manor Born".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/11/16/l...
A new Finlarticle coming to you all soon!
November 14, 2025 at 4:47 PM
A new Finlarticle coming to you all soon!
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
News coming in that our @finlay24.bsky.social has committed content again...
November 13, 2025 at 8:37 PM
News coming in that our @finlay24.bsky.social has committed content again...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
We wouldn't have any of this Bond handwringing if we hadn't allowed the art of Hack Writing to die out. Stick a paperback novelist in his shed for the weekend with a bottle of whisky, and you'd have got cinema gold.
November 11, 2025 at 11:34 AM
We wouldn't have any of this Bond handwringing if we hadn't allowed the art of Hack Writing to die out. Stick a paperback novelist in his shed for the weekend with a bottle of whisky, and you'd have got cinema gold.
Pointing at straight people
November 10, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Pointing at straight people
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"It seems the furry folk really are out and about tonight..."
Today we shall mostly be remembering TV writer Nigel Kneale, who died 29 October 2006.
Here's @finlay24.bsky.social on his TV play "During Barty’s Party".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/20/d...
Today we shall mostly be remembering TV writer Nigel Kneale, who died 29 October 2006.
Here's @finlay24.bsky.social on his TV play "During Barty’s Party".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/20/d...
Last night on YouTube: Beasts
FINLAY McLAREN on the horrific genius of Nigel Kneale.
thelionandunicorn.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:38 AM
"It seems the furry folk really are out and about tonight..."
Today we shall mostly be remembering TV writer Nigel Kneale, who died 29 October 2006.
Here's @finlay24.bsky.social on his TV play "During Barty’s Party".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/20/d...
Today we shall mostly be remembering TV writer Nigel Kneale, who died 29 October 2006.
Here's @finlay24.bsky.social on his TV play "During Barty’s Party".
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/07/20/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
The editorial team at L&U are pleased as Punch for our @finlay24.bsky.social that his essay on the PARKINSON debate between Kenneth Williams & trade union legend Jimmy Reid has now been endorsed by two generations of Reids. (Thank you @joanireid.com.)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
October 25, 2025 at 3:21 PM
The editorial team at L&U are pleased as Punch for our @finlay24.bsky.social that his essay on the PARKINSON debate between Kenneth Williams & trade union legend Jimmy Reid has now been endorsed by two generations of Reids. (Thank you @joanireid.com.)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"These old debates are reminders that intelligence and civility once shared the same studio space and that we were all the richer for it."
@finlay24.bsky.social on Kenneth Williams vs Jimmy Reid on Parky's show.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
@finlay24.bsky.social on Kenneth Williams vs Jimmy Reid on Parky's show.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
Last night on YouTube: Parkinson
FINLAY McLAREN watches Kenneth Williams and Jimmy Reid going at it (ooh matron).
thelionandunicorn.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:57 AM
"These old debates are reminders that intelligence and civility once shared the same studio space and that we were all the richer for it."
@finlay24.bsky.social on Kenneth Williams vs Jimmy Reid on Parky's show.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
@finlay24.bsky.social on Kenneth Williams vs Jimmy Reid on Parky's show.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
A new @lionunicorn.bsky.social piece from me about Parky and Kenneth and Jimmy Reid
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
Last night on YouTube: Parkinson
FINLAY McLAREN watches Kenneth Williams and Jimmy Reid going at it (ooh matron).
thelionandunicorn.com
October 23, 2025 at 7:48 AM
A new @lionunicorn.bsky.social piece from me about Parky and Kenneth and Jimmy Reid
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/23/l...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"In 62 years, in that far-off future space year 2082, would the children of Generation Epsilon — in between school trips to the moon & daily downloads of every book ever written — be called upon to learn about Lockdown?"
@finlay24.bsky.social on forgetting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social on forgetting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Decade: Lockdown (2020)
Do you remember the covid lockdowns? asks FINLAY McLAREN. Of course you do. So why have we chosen to forget?
thelionandunicorn.com
October 12, 2025 at 11:53 AM
"In 62 years, in that far-off future space year 2082, would the children of Generation Epsilon — in between school trips to the moon & daily downloads of every book ever written — be called upon to learn about Lockdown?"
@finlay24.bsky.social on forgetting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social on forgetting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"The pandemic is already consigned to the same memory black hole as Swampy, Cat Bin Lady and freakshakes."
@finlay24.bsky.social on the Lockdown that Time Forgot.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social on the Lockdown that Time Forgot.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Decade: Lockdown (2020)
Do you remember the covid lockdowns? asks FINLAY McLAREN. Of course you do. So why have we chosen to forget?
thelionandunicorn.com
October 11, 2025 at 5:51 PM
"The pandemic is already consigned to the same memory black hole as Swampy, Cat Bin Lady and freakshakes."
@finlay24.bsky.social on the Lockdown that Time Forgot.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social on the Lockdown that Time Forgot.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"Politicians will happily drone on & on about the wrecked economy, the absent schoolchildren, the broken NHS and the rise of extremism but never — never — do they dare utter a word about the cause. They cannot."
@finlay24.bsky.social returns to DECADE👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social returns to DECADE👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Decade: Lockdown (2020)
Do you remember the covid lockdowns? asks FINLAY McLAREN. Of course you do. So why have we chosen to forget?
thelionandunicorn.com
October 11, 2025 at 6:41 PM
"Politicians will happily drone on & on about the wrecked economy, the absent schoolchildren, the broken NHS and the rise of extremism but never — never — do they dare utter a word about the cause. They cannot."
@finlay24.bsky.social returns to DECADE👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social returns to DECADE👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"The biggest domestic upheaval since the war has been wiped from memory. Poof. Gone. Evaporated. We were barely out of our masks before we decided never to mention them again."
@finlay24.bsky.social on the covid lockdowns of 2020.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social on the covid lockdowns of 2020.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Decade: Lockdown (2020)
Do you remember the covid lockdowns? asks FINLAY McLAREN. Of course you do. So why have we chosen to forget?
thelionandunicorn.com
October 11, 2025 at 6:51 AM
"The biggest domestic upheaval since the war has been wiped from memory. Poof. Gone. Evaporated. We were barely out of our masks before we decided never to mention them again."
@finlay24.bsky.social on the covid lockdowns of 2020.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social on the covid lockdowns of 2020.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Here's something I wrote! It's about Lockdown, lapses of memory and looking the other way.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Decade: Lockdown (2020)
Do you remember the covid lockdowns? asks FINLAY McLAREN. Of course you do. So why have we chosen to forget?
thelionandunicorn.com
October 11, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Here's something I wrote! It's about Lockdown, lapses of memory and looking the other way.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/10/11/d...
Decade 2020 will be with you all tomorrow morning!
October 10, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Decade 2020 will be with you all tomorrow morning!
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
Coming next in DECADE: 2020 – in which @finlay24.bsky.social rips the 😷 off lockdown Britain.
Catch up with his ongoing cultural odyssey below, and find out where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going...
Catch up with his ongoing cultural odyssey below, and find out where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going...
"Bowie was always looking ahead. He had an uncanny ability to predict the next big thing. This is why in 2016, he chose to die"
DECADE by @finlay24.bsky.social presents ten cultural artefacts, telling the story of where we’ve been and where we’re going. (1/10)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/03/d...
DECADE by @finlay24.bsky.social presents ten cultural artefacts, telling the story of where we’ve been and where we’re going. (1/10)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/03/d...
Decade: Blackstar (2016)
In a new series on 10 cultural works from the last 10 years, FINLAY McLAREN assesses David Bowie’s album Blackstar.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 28, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Coming next in DECADE: 2020 – in which @finlay24.bsky.social rips the 😷 off lockdown Britain.
Catch up with his ongoing cultural odyssey below, and find out where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going...
Catch up with his ongoing cultural odyssey below, and find out where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"Bowie was always looking ahead. He had an uncanny ability to predict the next big thing. This is why in 2016, he chose to die"
DECADE by @finlay24.bsky.social presents ten cultural artefacts, telling the story of where we’ve been and where we’re going. (1/10)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/03/d...
DECADE by @finlay24.bsky.social presents ten cultural artefacts, telling the story of where we’ve been and where we’re going. (1/10)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/03/d...
Decade: Blackstar (2016)
In a new series on 10 cultural works from the last 10 years, FINLAY McLAREN assesses David Bowie’s album Blackstar.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 13, 2025 at 9:18 AM
"Bowie was always looking ahead. He had an uncanny ability to predict the next big thing. This is why in 2016, he chose to die"
DECADE by @finlay24.bsky.social presents ten cultural artefacts, telling the story of where we’ve been and where we’re going. (1/10)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/03/d...
DECADE by @finlay24.bsky.social presents ten cultural artefacts, telling the story of where we’ve been and where we’re going. (1/10)
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/08/03/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
Nice to be mentioned in this:
"At its best, the podcast sounds like Desert Island Discs in the style of anarchic 1990s TV; at its worst, it’s like being sat next to a stag do on an eight-hour flight"
In the latest instalment of Decade, @finlay24.bsky.social goes OFF MENU👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
In the latest instalment of Decade, @finlay24.bsky.social goes OFF MENU👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Nice to be mentioned in this:
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
Great article. Don't really know the cooking podcast but the argument against 'new media' is excellent.
"This isn’t really ‘new’ media at all. It’s the same faces, the same anecdotes, the same cultural chokehold, just on Spotify instead of the BBC. A gerontocracy with AirPods in"
@finlay24.bsky.social decries the 'cultural landlords' who bought up podcasting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social decries the 'cultural landlords' who bought up podcasting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 12, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Great article. Don't really know the cooking podcast but the argument against 'new media' is excellent.
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"This isn’t really ‘new’ media at all. It’s the same faces, the same anecdotes, the same cultural chokehold, just on Spotify instead of the BBC. A gerontocracy with AirPods in"
@finlay24.bsky.social decries the 'cultural landlords' who bought up podcasting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social decries the 'cultural landlords' who bought up podcasting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 12, 2025 at 7:38 AM
"This isn’t really ‘new’ media at all. It’s the same faces, the same anecdotes, the same cultural chokehold, just on Spotify instead of the BBC. A gerontocracy with AirPods in"
@finlay24.bsky.social decries the 'cultural landlords' who bought up podcasting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social decries the 'cultural landlords' who bought up podcasting👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"You’re not listening to the scrappy outsiders – the people who first made the space and who would actually benefit from your support – but to cultural landlords who now own the space"
@finlay24.bsky.social takes on the podcast industrial complex👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social takes on the podcast industrial complex👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 10, 2025 at 10:13 AM
"You’re not listening to the scrappy outsiders – the people who first made the space and who would actually benefit from your support – but to cultural landlords who now own the space"
@finlay24.bsky.social takes on the podcast industrial complex👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
@finlay24.bsky.social takes on the podcast industrial complex👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"At its best, the podcast sounds like Desert Island Discs in the style of anarchic 1990s TV; at its worst, it’s like being sat next to a stag do on an eight-hour flight"
In the latest instalment of Decade, @finlay24.bsky.social goes OFF MENU👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
In the latest instalment of Decade, @finlay24.bsky.social goes OFF MENU👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 10, 2025 at 7:52 AM
"At its best, the podcast sounds like Desert Island Discs in the style of anarchic 1990s TV; at its worst, it’s like being sat next to a stag do on an eight-hour flight"
In the latest instalment of Decade, @finlay24.bsky.social goes OFF MENU👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
In the latest instalment of Decade, @finlay24.bsky.social goes OFF MENU👇
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Here's my podcast polemic where I'm very rude about lots of celebrities.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 10, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Here's my podcast polemic where I'm very rude about lots of celebrities.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Reposted by Finlay McLaren
"If this is supposed to be ‘new’ media, why all the old faces?" asks @finlay24.bsky.social.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
Decade: Off Menu (2019)
Podcasts were meant to be better than this, weren’t they? asks FINLAY McLAREN.
thelionandunicorn.com
September 10, 2025 at 6:52 AM
"If this is supposed to be ‘new’ media, why all the old faces?" asks @finlay24.bsky.social.
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...
thelionandunicorn.com/2025/09/10/d...