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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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Unreal People in a Hyperreal World: The Empty Rich of Succession
Mic Wright unpicks the attraction by repulsion of the hit HBO/Sky Atlantic drama, partly inspired by the Murdochs, but wonders whether it gives solace to the super-rich
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Luftwaffle: Fantasy Nostalgia Betrays the Past, and the Present
Otto English explores the trend among Brexiters to summon myths about World War Two It’s a day of the week, so right-wingers are busy invoking World War Two again. In a country where virtually no-one goes to church any more, ‘The War’ has become a de-facto religion for many a Brexit-minded Conservative. And several have…
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In Limbo: Understanding the Painful, Human Existence of Asylum Seekers
While Priti Patel and the tabloid press seek to protect our borders from those who need protection, one film has broken the mould, writes Deborah Shaw
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The Upside Down: Wish You Were Here – The Persistence of the Postcard
With emails, text messages and WhatsApp groups now a dominant feature of all our lives, John Mitchinson considers the enduring qualities of a more humble form of social communication
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Rebalancing the History Books: Why Learning About Colonialism Matters
To mark the start of Black History Month 2021, Almaz Ohene meets inspirational leaders in the younger generation fighting back against the Government’s divisive ‘culture war’
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Workers of the World Sit Tight: How COVID Revolutionised Our Working Lives
Matthew Gwyther considers how the pandemic shifted office norms, and the dilemmas associated with our new routines
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The Rejection of Disabled Creativity – Enough Is Enough
Penny Pepper explores the failure of the diversity and inclusion trope for disabled people with a variety of stories to tell
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The Real Culture Divides Being Masked by the Government’s ‘Culture War’
Nadine Dorries’ appointment as Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary is said to be turbo-charging the culture war – but a new report has found the real issue facing the cultural sector is structural inequality not ‘wokery’
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Reconsidering the Counterculture
An author of a new book about the Bath Arts Workshop explores the strength of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture – and asks what lessons it has for us today
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Fake History: The New Brexiter Great Crusade
In the second part of his look at Brexit ‘campaigning’ groups, Otto English explores the attempts of those trying to weaponise their versions of British history and turning it into an orthodoxy which cannot be challenged
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THE UPSIDE DOWN: Less Is More – What Buckminster Fuller Still has to Teach Us
John Mitchinson explores the lessons in the inventor, philosopher and mathematician’s ‘doing more with less’ philosophy
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The History Racket: Blowing the Whistle on the Official Versions and Perversions of the Past
Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu explore the real threats to history – emanating not from ‘wokeists’ intent on rewriting the past but an establishment elite regularly burying inconvenient truths to maintain Britain’s mythic narratives
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Why We Need New Statues Reflecting Britain’s Diverse History
MP Preet Kaur Gill explains why she is backing a new campaign for public artwork commemorating people who are under-represented and forgotten in the country’s narratives about its past
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Googlies for Global Britain
Otto English has been leaked the first draft of the list of trade envoys suggested by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss. Byline Times cannot guarantee its authenticity
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The Angry Brigade, How All You Need is Love Became All You Need is Dynamite
Fifty years on from a Special Branch raid on Angry Brigade, Dave Haslam looks at the conditions that led the group to go beyond conventional politics and protests and bomb more than 100 buildings
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Age is a Feminist Issue in the Arts
The announcement of a new writing prize for under-35s raises questions about how age limits create barriers for women writers, says Joanna Walsh
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The Upside Down: Odd and Odder – The True Value of Eccentricity
John Mitchinson makes the case for those who have lived and died by their own rules, flying in the face of conventionality
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Touring in Europe: The Broken Instruments of Brexit
Philippe Auclair discusses the cultural isolation and loss which will result from British musical artists being deterred from performing in Europe
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The Long 1980s
Writer and illustrator Joanna Walsh reflects on coming of age in the 1980s, the uneven distribution of progress, and the lasting impact of section 28, AIDs, queer iconography and silencing
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Matt Hancock Sleeps with the Fishes…
Mic Wright on Boris Johnson’s obsession with The Godfather, and why director Francis Ford Coppola decried him for bringing “the beloved United Kingdom to ruin”
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Travels on Another Path: Obstacles for a Disabled Explorer
Penny Pepper shares her experiences of trips away and why, despite doing everything to mitigate it, the challenges of travel continue to reinforce disabled people’s second-class status
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Persisting in the Ruins: A Walk Through Thessaloniki’s History
Mike Stuchbery returns with his tours through history – on this occasion through a city which has been an axis of trade, faith and conflict
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Breaking Taboos: ‘We Need to Talk About Money’
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore speaks to Otegha Uwagba about her new book, which questions why those who have benefitted from financial help are so reluctant to be transparent about it
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England’s Upper Classes – A Dangerous Cult
Otto English shares the story of his late mother’s ‘double life’ and explores how class continues to define British society in damaging, limiting ways
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Spectating Or Doing?: The Challenge for the UK’s Ruling Clique
After the magazine backed off a threatened attack on England footballer Marcus Rashford, Geoff Mulgan looks at the Spectator’s grip on the Conservative Party – its weakness over wokeness and over-reliance on wordsmiths
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Trump, Vampires and Animals on the Moon: The Fake News about Fake News
Looking back over the history of printed lies, Ivor Gaber debunks the myth that social media is alone responsible for the rise of disinformation
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Brideshead Britain: Boris Johnson’s Entourage of ‘Careless People’
With the Government showing itself out of touch over anti-racism and football, Mic Wright looks at the gilded age Oxford culture around the current incumbent at Number 10
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Englishness Evolves
Otto English charts the different strands of English identity over the years and how a dark turn may now be giving way to something altogether more inclusive, decent and inspiring
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England? Which England? Who Won? Who Lost?
Journalist and sports commentator Philippe Auclair looks at the social significance of the Euro 2020 final, and compares it to the famous World Cup Victory of France in 1998
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The Upside Down: Let Them Eat Bread
John Mitchinson charts a brief history of British food and the emergence of a humble meal enjoyed billions of times each year
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Extinguishing Political Fire and Fury: Kim Leadbeater and the Lessons of Keir Hardie
Reverend Joe Haward reflects on the Batley and Spen by-election, and the necessity for a more compassionate political climate
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A Tale Told by an Idiot: Exclusive Extracts from Boris Johnson’s Book on Shakespeare
Otto English has procured an advanced copy of the Prime Minister’s book on the Great Bard
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Never To Forget: Remembering the Health Workers Who Gave Their Lives to Protect Us
Howard Goodall explains the genesis of his NHS memorial choral work, and the effect of meeting relatives of those who died during the pandemic
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Liberty, Equality, Infirmity?
As members of the House of Lords discuss lifting pandemic measures put in place to enable disabled peers to discharge their duties from home, Penny Pepper explains how archaic attitudes are still plain to see in society
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Empire Men: ‘The Sweet, Just, Boyish Masters’
Jake Arnott reveals the repressions that drove British Empire Men such as General Gordon, Lord Kitchener, Cecil Rhodes, Robert Baden-Powell and T. E. Lawrence
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England v Germany: A Short History of Losing It
As the two countries meet in the knockout stages of Euro 2020, Otto English explains why – when it comes to jingoism and disgrace – one side is always the loser
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From George Orwell to Priti Patel: How Britain Brought its Colonial Policing Home
As the Metropolitan Police is judged to be institutionally corrupt, Hardeep Matharu and Peter Jukes explore how some of the biggest problems still plaguing British policing are embedded in the soil of British colonialism
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Options for an English National Anthem: from Jerusalem to Blackadder
Composer Howard Goodall explores why England does not have an anthem distinct from that of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at sporting events and assesses the leading candidates
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The Pursuit of Truth – Or Not: Boris Johnson, COVID and the Media
Broadcast journalists’ refusal to call-out the lies of the Prime Minister, his Cabinet members and the Government as a whole during the Coronavirus pandemic reveals the extent of the crisis engulfing the very fabric of truth in our society, observes Dorothy Byrne
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Colston Reconfigured: A Fulcrum for Future Understanding
Hannah Charlton explores what the journey of the statue of a Bristol slavetrader is revealing about the wider historical moment the country finds itself in
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The Upside Down: Outrageous! Are We Hardwired for Scandal?
John Mitchinson unearths some of the juiciest incidents turning the gossip mills of times past
