Thomas Hobbs

How exactly did London get its name? Famed historian Thomas Hobbs explores...

Live review: "She can be unapologetically cheesy — she sang her Robbie Williams duet Kids while punching the air — but this is what makes her so endearing. In an era of singles that are more concerned with being woke than making you spin around, Kylie Minogue felt like a welcome tonic."

"British rap had never heard anything quite like Klashenkoff, who was the perfect mix of rawness and technical lyricism. He was the kind of poet capable of profound social commentary, but also stabbing you in the eye with his pen. For many, he sounded like the closest thing Britain had to a Nas."

"Nguyen deserves credit for creating an intelligent original story about the murky world of finance that will force many to look at Wall Street trading from a fresh angle, but this could have been great had Nguyen dialled up the deceptive themes of modern capitalism rather than straining to find heart in an industry that doesn’t have one."

"There comes a point where the balance between quality and quantity starts to muddle, and the public tire of hearing so much from the same musician. The consistency that was once a strength becomes a weakness, and over-saturation means a lot of fans turn against the very thing they used to love. This is the battle Future faces."

"The phallic symbolism of ‘Sex Shooter’, which contains the playful lyrics “I need you to pull my trigger babe / I can’t do it alone”, is one hell of a ride, while the absolutely bonkers ‘Holly Rock’ sees Prince talking slick over a beat that sounds like it was crafted from a psychedelic pinball machine. Honestly, it’s a shame Prince ever gave these tracks away to other artists."

For the 29th part of my 'London on Screen' series, I looked at the mews where Andrew Lincoln holds up a soppy love letter to a typically wooden Keira Knightley...

"As I left the museum, processing the various murder weapons I had just seen, I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable feeling that by putting this kind of paraphernalia on display the killers have somehow won, their crimes immortalised and put on a pedestal."

Live review: "Sadly, the delay takes the eccentric edge right out of Badu’s performance, as she’s forced to run too quickly through crowd pleasers such as On And On. The real star is 31-year-old Jhené Aiko, showing off a hypnotically beautiful falsetto while floating around the Hawaiian themed stage like a young Joni Mitchell."

Festival review: "Field Day is a festival that’s having an identity crisis and still trying to fit in too many genres, despite being on a site clearly designed with only one in mind."

"But even if this record is a little rough around the edges, it feels like the starting point of something very special and has enough sparky originality (seriously, even Hendrix would be proud of the in-your-face guitar which kicks in towards the end of “Love 2 Fast”) to ring off all through your summer."

Live review: "Twigs’s body is completely at one with the music. Her ethereal dancing is reminiscent of Kate Bush and the way she used to hypnotise audiences with just the faintest of movements. You sense Twigs has been touched by the same kind of genius."

"Ellison is a master at shifting tone, and knows how to take listeners on an exhilarating journey that unites both calm and chaos."

"If, like me, you choose to believe Flower Boy was sincere and genuinely based around Tyler coming out of the closet, then IGOR appears to be about him finally living this truth. Even if he has had his heart broken, he now has his freedom – and that’s why the music on IGOR sounds so alive."

"‘Father of Asahd’ isn’t perfect, and the celebratory baller vibe can get a little tiresome at times. However, this time round, whenever Khaled shouts “Another one!”, his catchphrase, it actually feels merited."