John Rentoul has for three years compiled what has been called ‘the most useless collection of headlines’ consisting of Questions to Which the Answer is No. The series has earned him a cult following on his blog and on Twitter. His book, The Banned List (also published by Elliott & Thompson), takes its title and subject from another blog series, in which he collects over-used, meaningless and offensive words and phrases. He is chief political commentator for the Independent on Sunday, and visiting fellow at Queen Mary, University of London, where he teaches contemporary history. Previously he has worked for the BBC and New Statesman, and on farms in Canada, where he picked tobacco.