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SubscriptionsSection: Culture
History, music, cooking, travel, books, theatre, film – but also with an eye on the ‘culture wars’, nationalism and identity.
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The Seven Kingdoms of the North that Shaped Britain’s role in Europe
The Count of the Saxon Shore on the Anglo-Saxon arguments about independence and internationalism over a religious customs union with Europe.
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Midsummers Dreams of Flying: Courage is a Muscle
Salena Godden on how our ancient dreams of the impossible became today’s realities and prove that ‘Pessimism is for Leightweights’
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‘DIE MAUER IM KOPF’: Why Bannon Told Trump to “Build the Wall”
Hardeep Matharu explores the 30th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Wall and how and why the building of walls is making a worrying comeback – in the US and elsewhere.
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Whatever they say, Fast Fashion Brands aren’t Sustainable
Erika Koljonen investigates whether cheap and cheerful clothing can be sustainable as the fast fashion brands claim.
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‘John Wick’ Body Count: Do Violent Movies Inspire Violence Amongst their Viewers?
Chris Sullivan on the age-old debate about whether fictional displays of violence increase it in reality, now informed by some groundbreaking research.
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Anybody can be a Hero: The Story of Lilo Hermann
Whenever Mike Stuchbery travels to Stuttgart he is reminded that the courage to resist authoritarianism and tyranny isn’t restricted to a particular kind of individual and here manifests itself in the form of a bookish single mother.
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Watching the Apocalypse? Turn off the TV and Find a Better Ending
Salena Godden’s fourth episode of ‘Pessimism is for Lightweights’ warns of the dangers of too much bad news and the need for hope.
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THE UPSIDE DOWN: The Limits of Charm – Britain’s Worst Ever MP
John Mitchinson on the life and times of Ignácz Trebitsch and the prescient lessons our politicians can take from his grisly demise.
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MOOD-BASED TRAVEL: Hong Kong – City in the Sky
In the latest in his series exploring how to experience travelling as a antidote to your mood, Kyle Taylor sets out the wonders of Hong Kong.
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THE UPSIDE DOWN: Learning to Love Weeds
John Mitchinson explores why weeds force us to think differently about what is and isn’t ‘natural’
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Armour, Kimonos and a Moment of Peace – a Testing Week for Salena
Salena Godden writes her third episode of ‘Pessimism is for Lightweights’ about a testing week that had a precious moment of solidarity
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WORD OF THE WEEK: caciquism
(n.) political bossism; a political system in which one powerful figure wields considerable power or influence The first is that it could win you a game of Scrabble one day. In 1982, a professional player named Karl Khoshaw played caziques (an official alternative spelling caciques) in an international Scrabble tournament and, with a score of…
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Unbroken: The Story of Artemisia Gentileschi
Mike Stuchbery on a renaissance artist who overcame the predatory sexism of her day and survives as an emblem of feminist persistence.
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‘The North Remembers’: How an Anglo-Saxon Game of Thrones led to a Northern Powerhouse
The Count of the Saxon Shore on why ‘the North Remembers’. It was the original source of a progressive, articulate English identity.
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Pessimism is for Lightweights: Episode 2: From Brighton Fringe to Parliament Square.
Salena Godden, poet and writer, continues her whirlwind of readings and gigs at festivals and invites us all to share a moment of peace, community and solidarity. “The Future hasn’t happened yet. The idea that our civilisation is doomed is not an established fact. It is a story we tell ourselves.” – John Higgs The…
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WORD OF WEEK: mebby-scales
(n.) a state of indecision, wavering between two opinions or options If last week’s EU election results taught us anything, it’s that the UK is still as divided as ever. On the one hand, Remainers claimed the biggest victory of the night: add up the votes for all those parties overtly calling for the 2016…
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London Calling – City of the World
Mike Stuchbery recalls a cacophony of people through time, who came to London and made it what it is today.
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London Never Was an English City: and the Anglo-Saxons Always Distrusted It
Built by Romans, shunned by the Anglo Saxons, renewed by the Normans, Britain’s great capital has survived adversity through diversity.
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Remembering Steve Strange: The Ultimate ‘New Romantic’ who Hated the Name
Chris Sullivan, DJ and writer remembers Steve Strange, lead singer of Visage and the New Romantic Movement on what would have been his 60th birthday.
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Pessimism is for Lightweights: Teenage Dreams in Tumultuous Times
On the road with her LiveWire poets, Salena Godden finds hope in youth and poetry’s ability to help us mourn our passing world.
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She Came from Nowhere: The Tale of Jeanne Hatchette
Mike Stuchbery on another stirring story from our European past that shows how small actions can have big consequences.
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A Different Kind of Trip – Mood Based Travel
Kyle Taylor and psychologist Pasha introduce their concept of prescribing where to go and what to do as an antidote for your mood.
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A Second Vote: How Essex Man was Always Multicultural
The Count of the Saxon explains the fluidity of Saxon religious belief as new archaeological discoveries suggest the East Saxons converted to Christianity, and back to Paganism again.
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Nick and Me: The Great Brexit Storm Uprooting Old Friendships
Otto English on the tragic story of how the social media civil war of the last few years has cost him dearly.
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‘A Plague Tale’ Review: A (Grim) Kind of Alchemy’
‘A Plague Tale: Innocence’ is a game about change. True to the alchemical concepts upon which much of the plot rests, the game represents an arc of corruption, distillation, purification and sublimation.
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THE UPSIDE DOWN: Show Me the Money – the Story of the First Journalist
John Mitchinson recounts the life of Daniel Defoe, the Patron Saint of Freelancers and Master of Aliases, who hustled journalism into existence three hundred years ago.
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WORD OF THE WEEK: broggle
Another timely Word of the Week from @HaggardHawks: broggle (v.) to make repeated ineffectual attempts at doing something
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THIRTY YEARS OF RAVE: Why the Second Summer of Love was Met with a Police Backlash
DJ and writer Chris Sullivan on the timely new film ‘Beats’ as he explores 30 years of rave culture in the UK.
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A New Crusade for White Christian Europe? Not a Good Look
When Far Right and populist figures such as Hungary’s Viktor Orban talk about a ‘crusade’ to defend ‘Christendom’ – this should ring some very shrill alarm bells.
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As Epic as Jon Snow and Daenerys – a Glimpse of Roman Britain’s Multicultural Love
The 2nd Century tombstone near Hadrian’s Wall tells a story as exotic as anything out of Game of Thrones, the epic love story of a woman from Hertfordshire and her partner from Syria.
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WORD OF THE WEEK: straddlebug
(n.) a non-committal, equivocating politician [19C slang] There were local elections in England and Northern Ireland this week (though not, despite what Boris Johnson thinks, in London). And with the results now in, for the first time in a long time one clear message has been sent to Westminster: the overtly pro-Remain Lib Dems and…
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MYTH AND TABOO: Can Integration Ever Solve Racism?
Far from being topics of taboo, integration, immigration and racism have been politicised for years in dishonest narratives. Are Tony Blair and other centrists going down the same path again as populism rears its ugly head once more?
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The Light of the Beguines: Medieval Europe’s Altruistic Women
The story of the Beguines is important to remember in a time of increasing social fracturing.
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Two Days In April: Did Love at First Sight Change the World for Ever?
Mike Stuchbery argues that Petrarch’s passion for his muse Laura triggered the Renaissance imagination and paved the way for modernity.
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On the Ruin of Britain – the First Great National Remoaners
The Count of the Saxon recalls the first book to record the timeless British refrain – ‘things aren’t what they used to be’.
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WORD OF THE WEEK: recrudescence
(n.) a recurrence of something undesirable after a period of dormancy A bad penny, as the saying goes, always turns up. The earliest record of that proverb comes from William Langland’s Piers Plowman, written sometime in the late 1300s, proving that people have been having problems with bad pennies since the Middle Ages at least.…
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Battle of the Bucket – So Much Blood Shed over So Little
Tribalism is killing us, wrote Tina Gharavi in our launch issue and Mike Stuchery has a vivid example of this from history.
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Crystal Meth Maze: the Truth behind the Myth of Warhol and his Factory
Chis Sullivan searches for impoverished drug-fueled reality in the late Nat Finkelstein’s Photography Exhibition, ‘In and Out of Warhol’s Orbit’ from his past interviews with Nat and the people who knew the the Factory best.
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WORD OF THE WEEK: stratagemous (adj.) consisting of or succeeding by underhand schemes or strategies
consisting of or succeeding by underhand schemes or strategies
