President Putin celebrated his 62nd birthday on Tuesday 7 October. Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, congratulated him and gave him special thanks for his “care for the spiritual condition of the [...]
Read moreCategory "November (featured)"
Rojava, imperialism and the Islamic states
There was a time, just over a decade ago, when the leaders of the United States and Britain promised the world a quick victory in Iraq in order to put an end to an unhinged dictator, halt the Islamist threat [...]
Read moreHaunted by Andrei Zhdanov
A month ago Western Australian Opera opted to withdraw performances of Carmen at the Opera House in Sydney because they feared that the setting of Georges Bizet’s opera in a cigarette factory might clash with the opera company’s sponsorship by [...]
Read moreReview: Pride
Review of the film “Pride” (Pathe Films, UK, Cert 15) by Dave Lewis (former member of London Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners 1984/85). Image copyright Colin Clews, www.gayinthe80s.com __________________________________________________________________________________ Pride tells one of the many thousands of overlooked stories from the [...]
Read moreA Room Without A View – Being A Hostel Worker Abroad
I work at a hostel in Spain. I work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and for my services I receive, unlike Forster, a room without a view. I ended up out here, not to take a summer travelling, [...]
Read moreLegend of the Dead Soldier
And when the war reached its final spring With no hint of a pause for breath The soldier did the logical thing And died a hero’s death. The war however was far from over, And the Kaiser thought it a crime That his soldier should be [...]
Read moreReview: Anselm Kiefer at the Royal Academy
A visit to the Anselm Kiefer retrospective exhibition at the RA can be a daunting prospect for many reasons, the scale of the work, the complexity of themes and the sheer overwhelming volume of diverse media on display in this [...]
Read moreReview: Critical Theory and the critique of Political Economy
Critiquing the Critiques – Werner Bonefeld’s new book analyses the relationship between Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy with a particular focus on the ‘New Reading’ of Marx, that arose in Germany in the aftermath of 1968 Introduction For those [...]
Read moreThe Scottish Referendum: Nationalism and Political Disintegration
The Scottish independence referendum produced the expected majority for NO, by a margin of 10% - 55% to 45% for YES. However, some of the patterns of the vote were surprising to many. Areas that have been the core of support [...]
Read moreMr Innocent and Mary Poppins go to prison
You may find it hard to have any sympathy with Denis MacShane and Vicky Pryce. MacShane was a pro-Zionist MP who was regularly sent on to Newsnight to bat for the integration of a capitalist European Union and believes that [...]
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