What's Going On?, By Mark Steel

Some might say that only Mark Steel could narrate the breakdown of a marriage and the end of a love affair with left-wing politics with the same, deeply personal sadness.

This story of an ageing socialist shows both strands to be equally heartbreaking. Fans of his columns in this newspaper will appreciate his ability to be genuinely angry and desperately funny simultaneously. But he also does gentle and perplexed, as he realises "your forties are a time when all your flaws seem to be laid out before you, and so is your decline." What's Going On? proves he is much more than a grumpy old man.