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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 Upside Down: Operation Shylock
John Mitchinson on why Shakespeare’s most problematic play still has plenty to teach us
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Chatbot Journalism: Fake Doctors, Fake Dogs, Fake EastEnders Storylines
Artificially generated nonsense is already filling the pages of Britain’s press
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‘You’re Not Just Disagreeing with Mr Sunak, You’re Disagreeing with God’: Why We Need Banned Books Week More than Ever
In just one year, book bans in the US have increased by a third – largely targeted at works containing content on LGBTQ+ rights, race and racism, physical abuse, grief and death
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‘Children of Men’ – 17 Years On: A Grave Warning to a Nation Adrift
The 2006 film set in a dystopian London of the future has much to say about modern Britain – especially the ‘doom loop’ trapping younger generations, writes Matt Gallagher
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The Upside Down: Why Our Rituals of Death Need Re-Thinking
John Mitchinson reflects on what he learned about the ‘baffling presence of absence’ when his father died in his arms
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The Upside Down: Perchance to Dream
John Mitchinson explores why we need to spend a third of our life asleep
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Vive la Slebolution: Can Fame Save the UK from Infamy?
With politicians moving into TV talk shows and entertainment, can celebrities, sports stars and social media influencers move the other way, and make a difference in politics?
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The Curious Case of the Crooked House: Developers Don’t Just Destroy Pubs by Tearing Them Down
Cultural vandalism takes many forms, writes Josiah Mortimer
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Just Another ‘C’ Word? The Weird, Wonderful and Worrisome History of Cripple
Penny Pepper explores how she encourages disabled people to reclaim labels – to twist and refute them
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‘Tackling the Press’ Abuse of Women is a Long Overdue First Step to Changing how they are Publicly Perceived’
Sinead O’Connor’s passing has seen tabloid tributes about her talent and fearlessness – ignoring how the singer was demonised by the same newspapers when she was alive
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Failing Learning Disabled People: The Contradictions of 1945
We should celebrate the birth of the NHS and the welfare state – but also acknowledge it has too often let learning disabled people down in the worst way imaginable, writes Stephen Unwin
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The Upside Down: The Ruffian on the Stair
For this month’s column, John Mitchinson pens a personal reflection on why knowing about what kills us makes it no less mysterious
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Come Clean, Keir! Did You Really Disparage ‘Tree-Huggers?’
Tree Hugging has a long venerated past of protest and environmental protection. Is the Labour Leader completely ignorant of it?
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Sticks and Stones: The Problem with Rosie Jones’ New Documentary on Disabled People’s Abuse
The families of profoundly learning-disabled people are involved in a continuous struggle for their most fundamental rights and dignities, writes Stephen Unwin
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The Dreadful Truths about the ‘Disabled Freeloader’: All the Things We Get for Free!
Penny Pepper debunks the bigoted beliefs held about the Blue Badge, support workers, wheelchairs and more…
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The Lecturers’ Union and the Betrayal of the Intellectuals
Many academics in both Ukraine and the UK are horrified by the Putin-enabling posturing of far-left factions within the UCU
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Fake Cats and the Legitimisation of Hate
The tale of a schoolgirl identifying as a cat has become catnip to the anti-trans media machine, including the BBC and ITV. But the real story is of weaponised bigotry
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‘We Can Reimagine Our Institutions to See Refugees for What they Truly Are – Our Neighbours’
On World Refugee Day, Luma Mufleh explores the ways in which migrant children are being held back by the education system
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Fears of the Singularity
The ‘intelligence’ of an AI system is a different and more potent thing, in some key respects, than human intelligence. Where will this lead us?
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‘Creating a Space for People Who Find Themselves Between Cultures and Identity’
The team behind the ‘In-Between Lines’ initiative, which explores the adopted and mixed-race experience, share why it is so important to talk about the complexity of identity
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The Upside Down: The 18th Century’s Ultimate #BookToker
John Mitchinson explores what the novelist behind a 1759 masterpiece can teach us about the importance of marketing as a publisher
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Expectation vs Reality: The Hard Hand Dealt Young People in 2023
We could be working 15-hour weeks, enjoying our free time, and living like people of the future. Matt Gallagher asks: Why aren’t we?
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Rogue Drones and Tall Tales
Kate Devlin dispels the sudden Science Fiction panic around superintelligence, and looks at the real threats to employment and the environment from AI and machine learning
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‘We Rescue People and Animals, and We get Them to Safety’: Saving Lives in Kherson Under Russian fire
Thousands of people have been evacuated, but much more are abandoned on Russia-occupied territories
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You Can’t Keep Politics Out of Sports – Especially in Russia
Pekka Kallioniemi says Russia should be excluded from the 2024 Olympics even as neutrals, for their presence will be manipulated yet again in Russian propaganda
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‘The Patronisers Club and the Calculator of Hate’: A Bigoted Focus on Disability Continues
When will the disabled experience be seen and valued in a humane way?
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The Entertainment Industry’s Dark Underbelly: How TV and Film Freelancers Suffer in Silence
Most freelancers do not report abuse within the industry due to a fear of reputational damage, says the national secretary of the broadcasting and entertainment union
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‘National Conservatism, Economic Reality and Fake Sovereignty’
In today’s interdependent economic world, UK companies are just too small to survive and thrive without cooperation with the EU, writes Jon Bloomfield
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Rishi Sunak’s Favourite Things
As the Prime Minister reveals that his favourite author is Jilly Cooper – he tells Otto English about some of his other favourites in music, food, movies and sport
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‘It was Like a Prison Cell for Me’: Children in Care, Reunited with Parents in New Initiative, Speak Out
Natasha Phillips reports on the success of the Coventry City reunification pilot featured on Channel 4’s ‘Kids’
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Harry and the Press: Read All About It?
A prince of the realm taking on Britain’s biggest newspapers is surely newsworthy? Not if you’re a reader of one of these titles, writes Liz Gerard
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‘Breaking the Fourth Wall: The Absurdity of the Modern News Interview’
Now, more than ever, we need people willing to verbally tear down the set and bring reality into the play of broadcasting, writes Reverend Joe Haward
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The Upside Down: Why We Get the Green Man Wrong
John Mitchinson explores a presence not a character, lurking on the edge of our technology-addled consciousness…
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‘High Time for High Fashion to have Found Us’
Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful understands we have to go beyond stunning photography and glorious clothes – and push for further discussion around the disability narrative, writes Penny Pepper
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The Coronation: ‘A Spectacle of Apathy’
It is almost as though Queen Elizabeth’s death has brought down the old scaffolding, writes Jonathan Lis
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‘Putin’s Russia is the Antithesis of Eurovision – Let’s Keep it Off the Stage’
In the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and brutal suppression of its culture, Matt Smith says Eurovision can provide another story of international solidarity and appreciation
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Coronation Stricken: The Sound of Slamming Portaloos
Otto English joined the crowds to see if he would feel any emotion at the crowning of a new king. He did. Rage.
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The Coronation: ‘Picking the Wrong Constitutional Fights’
Introducing an electoral system of proportional representation should take priority over conversations about the future nature of Britain’s head of state, writes AC Grayling
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The Coronation: ‘Is It Lese Majeste to Want Less Majesty?’
King Charles’ Coronation is a missed opportunity to move monarchy into the modern era, writes former diplomat Alexandra Hall Hall
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The UK’s ‘World-Beating’ Rhetoric: A Distraction From Reality?
Iain Overton looks at the hyperbole around post-Brexit Britain, and how nationalist exceptionalism blinds us to our real problems and their remedies
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Professors, Power and Projection: the Case of Matthew Goodwin
Martin Shaw looks at Goodwin’s new book and its claims that Britain is run by a ‘woke’ new elite
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‘A Great Power for Evil’
In Byline Times’ fourth anniversary print edition editorial, Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu explore how and why the established media continue to have a monopoly over the damaging narratives shaping our politics and culture – more than a decade after the phone-hacking scandal
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Geopolitical Hypocrisies: TikTok, Insecurity and Sino-US Relations
Chris Ogden shows how the logical extension of banning the Chinese platform for its data collection would be to clamp down on other forms of social media, including Facebook and Google
