Culture

Rap lyrics ‘evidence of bad character’ in racist prosecutions

Courts use participation in rap music used as evidence of ‘bad character’.

Rob Schofield  ·  15 September 2023

‘We don’t need no thought control’: Review of Roger Waters, ‘This Is Not a Drill’ world tour

The 'controversial' politics of Roger Waters take centre stage in his first farewell tour 'This Is Not a Drill' tour

George Banks  ·  13 June 2023

The war on disabled people

Dara O'Cogaidhin reviews The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe by Ellen Clifford

Dara O'Cogaidhin  ·  12 February 2021

Small Axe hews heavy beams

Review of Mangrove, first film in Steve McQueens Small Axe series.

Jeremy Dewar  ·  25 November 2020

Spitting Image and the death of British satire

Punch up, not down.

Rob Schofield  ·  14 November 2020

Blue Story: a tale of love and death

Review of Blue Story, directed by Rapman (Andrew Onwubolu) A low-budget debut film made by British hip-hop artist Rapman has hit the news for all the wrong reasons.

Jeremy Dewar  ·  01 December 2019

CLR James: From Trotskyism to Pan-Africanism

Over 80 years ago, CLR James’ remarkable work, The Black Jacobins was published in London. Its author openly intended his book to “stimulate the coming emancipation of Africa”. And indeed it did, playing a part in developing a movement of young black intellectuals in London, who were paralleled by similar figures in Paris and New […]

Dave Stockton  ·  14 October 2019

Jamie Oliver’s ‘Punchy Jerk Rice’ tastes like microwaved soil

THE online culture wars became inflamed again recently in an episode triggered by — of all things — microwave rice. After celebrity chef Jamie Oliver released his new “Punchy Jerk Rice” Dawn Butler, Labour MP and daughter of Jamaican immigrants, took to Twitter to admonish him. She wrote: “#jamieoliver @jamieoliver #jerk I’m just wondering do you know what #Jamaican#jerk […]

Rob Schofield  ·  17 September 2018

Film Review: In The Intense Now (No Intenso Agora)

João Moreira Salles’ thoughtful cinematic essay No Intenso Agora begins with Charles de Gaulle’s address to France on New Year’s Day 1968. A warm, almost grandfatherly figure, de Gaulle comments with palpable irony that although “the future is difficult to predict” he is pleased by the “happy, peaceful outlook that 1968 offers upon the nation”. […]

Rob Schofield  ·  01 June 2018

The Wrong Reflections – Black Mirror Series 4 Review

Does Charlie Brooker's latest effort hold a mirror up to the real threat?

Rob Schofield  ·  22 January 2018

Class struggle bulletin

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