Another year another flying day trip to Latitude. Though not quite as frantic as last year where I barely saw Mark Simmons do what turned out to be Joke of the Fringe ( "I was going to sail around the globe in the world’s smallest ship but I bottled it.”) and then had to grab my lift home. This time I managed to spend most of one day there. 

The problem is that either Latitude is getting later or the Edinburgh Fringe is getting earlier. I just had too much Fringe prep to do at home to make it to the Suffolk weekend for more than a day. But it was certainly worth the six hour round-trip. Once again, Latitude cements its claim as the best all-round arts festival, offering everything from music and comedy to head massages and holistic zen yoga, whatever the latter is. 

First up I’d learnt my lesson from two years ago when I couldn’t find my car in the rammed car park when it was time to go home. This time I cannily took a picture of my car and a nearby tree so I could locate it easily. and then I grabbed my wristband and a free cup of tea from the press tent and ploughed straight in.

With a difference though. Because I’m going up to Edinburgh so soon i thought I’d check out some non-comedy things for a change. Stretch my brain cells for a bit and open myself up to new experiences. Though drawing the line as holistic zen yoga.

I quickly found myself – not spiritually – in the Listening Post tent where there was a live Talking Politics event featuring broadcasters John Pienaar and Nick Robinson and journalist Jim Pickard discussing politics in a much more relaxed, candid way than they might on the radio. 

Pienaar was not the first, and won’t be the last, to comment on how white and middle class Latitude is (I think it was Russell Kane who dubbed it Lattetude, though others might claim that too). In fact I’ve seem Pienaar in my local artisan butchers and sure enough he said that being here was akin to being at home in East Dulwich.

You want contrast? You got it. From there I nipped into the bookshop next door where Cosi Fanny Tutti from Throbbing Gristle, who I have never seen in SE22, was doing a post-talk signing. I stayed around for a snatch of legendary record producer Joe Boyd recalling how he was blown away by the reggae movie The Harder They Come and later went on to work with Toots and the Maytals, which I didn’t know. Though I shouldn’t have been surprised, he seems to have worked wth everyone. except maybe Cosi Fanny Tutti.

By then my guilty conscience was kicking in and I thought I’d better head to the comedy tent. I was just in time to see Bec Hill doing a brilliant mime to You Can Leave You Hat On. I haven’t seen much of Hill in recent years and she has undergone some changes in that time. She explained that she is now queer, comparing women’s bodies to accordians. You can see all the buttons, you just have to work out which ones to press. She also put in a bid to be on Taskmaster. She is so inventive and creative I think she’d be great on the show.

Next up was Jen Brister, in a striking 'Elon Musk is a Bellend' T-shirt. Brister’s set was a blistering rant mostly about the things that get her goat. And there were certainly lots of things. From the fact that she is now middle-aged and has tiny eyes to not being able to handle her drink to forgetting words until two weeks after a conversation. She was clearly not alone. Cutaways to the audience revealed a sea of nodding fiftysomething heads aftef almost every punchline.

There had originally been a scheduling clash between Brister and Adam Buxton who was over at the Listening Post, but due to fitting in a live screening of the Euros final, the schedule was moved around - thank you Lionesses. I was now able to catch Adam Buxton plugging his new book and upcoming album. Buxton was joined by collaborator Joe Mount from Metronomy and interviewed by Ramble Chat superfan Elbow’s Guy Garvey. 

This was probably my highlight of the day, not just hearing the self-deprecating chatter from Buckles but also having the chance to hear something from his upcoming album. Pizza Time was inspired by Buxton seeing his teenage son living on pizzas and recalling how he was turning into his dad and his son was turning into him. Buxton suggested there has never been a good song inspired by children. He must have momentarily overlooked David Bowie’s Kooks. 

And then before the football there was still time to catch comedy tent headliner Bridget Christie. I won’t file a long review as parts of her set were bits she is working on for her next full show which tours in the autumn after an Edinburgh run-through. But what I saw was a beautiful mix of clowning silliness and hardcore feminism. She touched on similar themes about the menopause to Brister earlier, but in a very different way. The menopause has certainly had some strange effects on her as she revealed. I shall leave you with the lasting image of Christe’s vagina becoming magnetic…

Adam Buxton Picture by Liam Bailey.