Morrissey is back. And he’s sassy as hell. At the O2 on Saturday night, the once-waifish Smiths frontman turned stocky solo crooner cast shade on the haters: ‘As you all know, the jealous bitches tried to get rid of me, but thanks to you, and thanks to me, I’m still here.’ It was classic Mozzer: withering, self-aggrandising, hilarious.

With a European tour and a new album about to be released, Morrissey is in a score-settling mood. And with good reason. Make-Up Is a Lie, out yesterday, is his 14th album. But it wasn’t supposed to be. Bonfire of Teenagers, originally slated for release in 2023, still remains on the shelf, following rows with his former record label. As does another unreleased album.

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He claims it’s cancellation. ‘Labels say that they are both fantastic high-quality pop albums, but they say that they can’t release them because they don’t want the wrath of the Guardian making their lives hell,’ he told an interviewer recently. ‘The harassment campaign against me by the Guardian is worldwide knowledge now.’

The Guardian, as if trying to prove his point, has just........

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