Poetry as witness and engine of change
In Birds of East London Stephen Watts invites us into “an opening onto an open field”. There is “no gate to be climbed through in my lyric” he says. And yet the brief lines that follow are truly challenging […]
Ruskin – a man of his time and of our time
Events around the country are celebrating the bi-centenary of John Ruskin’s birth on 8 February – #Ruskin200. Thinker, campaigner, artist, scientist, educator and social critic John Ruskin was one of the most contradictory of all the famous Victorians.
He was […]
Mapping out the road from Wigan Pier
Wigan – the name is full of resonance. Little did we know that our meeting place, Sunshine House, was close to the old tripe shop where writer George Orwell penned […]
Creating identity in a neoliberal world
Identity, ideology & culture in a neoliberal world
Presentation at Wigan Teach-In, 24 November 2018
Is culture only a tool for the 1%? What does a cultural strategy for an emancipatory movement look like? Beyond divide and rule – privileging and […]
Even Dr Who…
Introduction to Getting to Grips with Neoliberalism Teach/Learn-in – Wigan 24 November 2018
We are here to reach a deeper understanding of what neoliberalism, how it is changing. What do we want to do?
* learn from each other as well as […]
Protest at British Museum’s Assyria show
Elegantly attired staff adorned with BP logos greeted journalists at the entrance to the British Museum’s big winter show, I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria.
We’re so used to corporate sponsors having pride of place at […]
#Remembrance Day: How a sailors’ mutiny helped end the war
In the run-up to Remembrance Sunday, it’s time to commemorate not only the end of World War I but the revolution that forced an end to hostilities.
Early in November 1918, sailors on the German fleets mutinied, refusing to attack […]
Boo the gig economy
Several hundred precarious workers and supporters marched behind the banner of the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) in a united protest action at London’s High Court yesterday.
The IWGB was in the court facing global taxi […]
Oceania celebrating
That we’ve broken their statues
That we’ve driven them out of their temples
doesn’t mean at all that the gods are dead.
Ionia, CP Cavafy
Oceania at London’s Royal Academy has opened at a time when efforts by indigenous, native and first peoples to […]
Fracking is the failure of democracy – so say today’s Suffragettes
Several hundred women from around the country took up the call of the Women of Lancashire to demonstrate in Parliament Square on Wednesday.
Dressed in white costumes with suffragette sashes, they raised their voices demanding an end to fracking.
Meanwhile, inside […]
Unblocking the pawn
As London grows and grows and grows, once familiar nooks and crannies in the centre where poetry could flourish have been ousted by property developers. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that talented and enterprising individuals like the […]
Videogaming – the good, the bad and the ugly
If you thought global corporations just sold stuff like trainers or phones, think again. China-based Tencent is the world’s biggest Internet-related products company with a market value of US$850 billion, making it the largest enterprise in Asia. The phenomenon […]
