In case it wasn’t already clear, I stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protestors across the US, here in the UK, and all across the world. This huge movement has already begun to achieve change, with Minneapolis city council voting to dismantle their police department, many organisations cutting ties with the police, and even […]
Given I’m about to review Keren Landsman’s novel The Heart of the Circle, you might be wondering ‘but what about the cultural boycott of Israel?’. If so, or if you’re actually wondering ‘what is the cultural boycott of Israel?’, then read on.
Three days days from now, the UK will go to the polls to elect a government in a general election. In a nation where voter turnout has plummeted since before the turn of the millennium and where celebrity commentators urge young people not to bother voting, I’d sincerely like to fair-mindedly trumpet the view that if you’re […]
What do you think of when someone says ‘Britishness’? Cups of tea, perhaps. The infinite varieties of rain. Cricket in the park on a sunny afternoon. Tikka masala. Saturday football. The Church of England. Embarassment. ‘Jerusalem’. London fried chicken. No example of what one might consider a quintessentially British thing will ever speak to everybody’s experience of […]
Recently, Stephen Moffat has been talking about the possibility of a female Doctor again.
When I was small, every week my grandmother would take me with her into town. We would go to the greengrocer’s and the butcher’s, the baker’s for an iced bun and maybe the Post Office. Then we’d go to the library. The library was a magical place. It may have only been a couple of […]
TRIGGER WARNING: extreme female-targeted violence, death, rape. In Isla Vista, California, this weekend, six people have been killed in another act of mass violence perpetrated by a young white male. The shooter, Elliot Rodger, who apparently took his own life after being cornered by police, left behind a 140-page online manifesto detailing his motives. He talked of taking […]
The Wednesday before last, I had a minor Twitter debate – not even a spat – over the use of race in argument with one of my favourite authors, Joanne Harris (previously reviewed). Here’s what went down. As Yashika Bageerathi, a nineteen year old A-Level student, was deported to Mauritius, Twitterer @NotAGateway (account run by […]