Right now over 90,000 people across the UK are locked inside cages that are socially and intellectually justified, rationalised – even celebrated – as fundamental to the smooth running of a liberal democracy. Many more people are in detention centres, young offenders institutions and psychiatric units. It’s called the prison system. Its role […]

Deception and Propaganda in Social Media A year after the revelations by Edward Snowden, more or less everybody is aware of the astonishing extent of online surveillance. An outcome of this increased awareness is the development of various protective measures, including encryption practices, privacy protection measures as well as the […]

They seem like a very teenage expression of rebellion, but I’ve seen a pin badge around London that nonetheless shocks me every time: “I’ve never kissed a Tory”. I’ve tried to pick apart its meaning. No doubt it’s intended as a cipher of just how deeply one’s political commitment goes. […]

“Culture is ordinary: that is where we must start.”  Raymond Williams Both sides of the debate, now in vogue on the left, around how far culture is to blame for gentrification are limited, which suggests the question itself may be the wrong one. Those who seek to explain gentrification through […]

Everyone has their favourite gentrification horror story. The Hackney cafe which took over an Asian Women’s Advice Centre and used the language of advice pamphlets to advertise their overpriced fry-ups. The ‘Champagne and Fromage’ bar which pushed the ‘foodie’ transformation of Brixton’s Granville Arcade – rechristened ‘Brixton Village’ – into […]

In February of this year, the popular community newspaper, Hackney Citizen, published a story about the Hackney Heart, a pop-up enterprise that first brokered a temporary home on Narrow Way, before moving on to more established premises on Mare Street. The “cafe-cum-gallery” was set up by food and travel writer, […]

Forced evictions and brutal street murders in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, committed by a militarised police, have typified the ‘preparations’ for this year’s World Cup in Brazil, showing once again that sport cannot be detached from politics. The institution of international sport is an important vehicle for the […]

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ‘Wonko the Sane’, a marine biologist from California, finds himself confronted with a pack of toothpicks with printed instructions on them. Wonko is moved to redraw the boundary of the asylum to encompass the whole world – except his home, which he turns […]

Those of us in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans* and queer (LGBTQ) communities will soon find ourselves bombarded with Tory appeasement as the first same-sex marriages are conducted in England. Marriage can be beautiful, meaningful, and vital for enacting immigration rights, but what does marriage mean in terms of state […]

In the history of authoritarian governance, there have always been ruling power structures such as monarchies, dictatorships and corporatocracies (the combination of giant corporations, the wealthy and their political representatives). All these power structures have constructed a particular idea of “the professional” to act on their behalf. Power structures have […]