Just before R.E.M. leave us for good, I interviewed Michael Stipe, my teenage hero, for The Quietus. He talks about his fears of being HIV positive in the mid-1980s, finding peace with Shiny Happy People, what he thinks of Simon Cowell’s version of Everybody Hurts, and rolls his eyes at Morrissey. This interview also comes endorsed by REM HQ, who passed on a message to tell me how much they loved it. My 14-year-old self is quite pleased.

Two very different features by me in this month’s new issues of Elle and Red. In Elle, I write a hefty (no pun intended) piece about sizism and fashion, and how averagely-sized women have often been shut out by designers – but how, slowly but surely, this seems to be changing. Fantastic cover interview with the gorgeous Michelle Williams in this issue, too.

In Red, I write about the joys of an analogue Christmas – tweet, Facebook and email-free – and quote Cliff Richard. Utterly shameless.

Jarvis Cocker’s Mother, Brother, Lover, reviewed by this old and dear Pulp fan, in this week’s New Statesman.

In this month’s The Word, I interview war reporting colossus, author and columnist Max Hastings for one of my favourite regular writing gigs, the Word To The Wise slot. He tells me why we should never have invaded the Falklands, how seedy newspapers actually are, and how personal tragedies have to be overcome.

Later in the mag, I also review the latest anthology of Derek and Clive recordings – including previously unreleased tracks, including the brilliant John Lydon-pastiching Punk Song – and use a four-letter word that begins with C. Two more reasons to subscribe!

In today’s Guardian, I write about the power and impact of the band t-shirt in pop culture from the 1960s to the present day, and mention some of the great contributors to mine and Ian Wade’s website. Read more here.

My cover interview with Rosamund Pike, for In Style magazine, is on newsstands today. She was a fantastic interviewee: feisty, funny, ranty and lovely. See the cover shoot here.

On Monday night, I saw Tony Bennett at the London Palladium. My review for The Guardian – five stars klaxon – is here.

My Band T-Shirt, the website I founded with my lovely friend Ian Wade, gets its own feature in today’s Telegraph Style section, including little interviews with the two of us, and a cartoon by Spencer Wilson. Read more here – and if you’d like to contribute an entry to our site, email us here.

My first ever favourite band, REM, split up yesterday. So I did what any fan would do: spend the late evening scouring YouTube for their favourite clips, and write about them for The Guardian. More here.

For my second Vanishing Points column for Caught By The River, I write about wild, wonderful Dunwich, slowly and surely slipping into the sea. Read the full piece here.