I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.
– William Blake
You’ll find recent material on this Home page, and every piece sent in since our launch a couple of years ago is available under the relevant topic sections in the Arts and Culture Hubs.
Halley’s Comet Burning Over Mark Twain’s Head by Fred Voss I didn’t have to go to war in Italy like Ernest HemingwayI just walked into a Los…
Tomorrow’s Feast by Gerda Stevenson is her third poetry collection. It is presented in several sections with a prologue called Albatross that tries to understand why the…
Tough at the Top by Paul Francis Though Paula Vennells has this business brainshe moonlights as a handmaid of the lord – a vicar with an eagle…
Stripped by Bernie Crawford Always go for the strong imagethe one that stalks the mindwhen the book is closedlet it do the work, I encourage my students…
Paseo de los Refugiados Celtas by Declan Geraghty Hands calloused strainedon our knees we are Celtic refugeesour country long deaddear citizens of Eireyou matter we give this…
should an agency cleaner in the basement of the British Museum find in some forgotten room an old earthenware lamp and choose to rub it, rub it…
Dahiya Doctrine by Nick Moss Bibi and Yoav banging on the table, demandingAshes, dust, blood.The IDF playing moksha patam with groups of the displaced.“Move south of Wadi…
The Present by Lisa Kelly is very hard to determine with any of our senses.I am trying to live in its abstract noun –a gift as the…
Slow and Steady Wins the Race by Anne Irwin Gather from the gutterye outsiders and ruffians we’ll fatten you on ideologiesblood you for battleprepare you for war….
Whose Bad Books? by Christopher Norris, with image by Martin Gollan 1 Our pastor, he said ‘Praise the Lord,Give praise unto His name,And spread the gospel news…
Bought and Sold by Benjamin Zephaniah Smart big awards and prize moneyIs killing off black poetryIt’s not censors or dictators that are cutting up our art.The lure…
In the Anglo world, things generally get lumped together, but in the Francophone world the two kinds of crime fiction are worlds apart. One branch of French…
Oh, oh, people of the earthListen to the warning the seer he said“Beware the storm that gathers here”Listen to the wise man.– The Prophet’s Song, Queen, 1975…
Socialist crime novels are perhaps not a genre that comes obviously to mind, either for those who read crime fiction or fans of the socialist novel. Yet…
A Christmas book for the child in your life, or in yourself……… Some snowmen had topknots. Some wore football scarves and skull caps. Some had veils over their…
Geoff Sawers introduces the life and work of Dorothy Edwards. Image above: Dorothy holding Dora Carrington’s cat, credit: King’s College, Cambridge, ref FCP/7/4/2/101 Born in 1902 or…
Introduction By Fran Lock Small Infinities is an appropriate title for a book – and an author – so enamoured of outlandish juxtaposition, paradox, and contradiction. While…
The Dublin lockout of 1913 was one of the greatest industrial disputes in Irish history. The conflict between some 20,000 workers and 300 employers lasted from 26…
One of the lasting effects of the continuing cultural Cold War against all socialist thought and culture is the West’s denial of the art of socialist countries….
Returning the Screw By P.V. Tims After Henry James Have you got a match? My name is Quint. And no, growing up with a name that sounds…
The Global Crime Novel: Worldwide Corruption and Chiseling In a 1931 Warner Brothers made the film Blonde Crazy, in the pre-Code period where expression was raunchier and…
Michael Eaude reviews The Precinct with the Golden Arm, by Dennis Broe, Pathmark Press 2020 This noir novel is the third of a trilogy set in Los Angeles in…
The shortlist for the annual International Dublin Literary Award for 2023 was published in late March. Among the six books on the list is a book by…
It’s the 160th anniversary of Edvard Munch’s birth on 12 December, and the 80th anniversary of his death in January. Munch’s The Scream (1893) speaks to us…
Nick Moss reviews Women In Revolt – Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990, at the Tate Britain until 7 April 2024. Image above: Houria Niati, No to…
“I hugged the olive tree. It was precious to me, so I hugged it. I felt like I was hugging my child. I’d raised the tree like…
Nick Moss reviews exhibitions by Philip Guston, Claudette Johnson, Re/Sisters, and Nicole Eisenman. Image above: Nicole Eisenman, The Triumph of Poverty, 2009, courtesy of Leo Koenig Inc., New York. When…
Hans Holbein the Younger was born in Augsburg in the winter of 1497/98 and died 480 years ago, in October or November 1543. He was one of…
Chad McCail introduces his new mural, Hopes and Fears, at Millfield Metro Station, Millfield, Sunderland, SR4 7AF. It was made between September 2022 and September 2023, and…
Image above: Ralph Chaplin – Cartoon published in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) journal Solidarity on June 30, 1917. “My unlucky countrymen have always had a taste…
Sixty years ago, in 1963, an Aeroflot flight from Moscow was on route to Havana and had to stop at Shannon airport due to fog. Shannon, then…
Jenny Farrell writes about Artemisia Gentileschi (8 July 1593-1656) One of the great weaknesses of bourgeois establishment art analysis is that the artist and their work are…
Nick Moss reviews this exhibition, at Tate Britain till 20 August. Image above: Isaac Julien, What Freedom is to me – Homage, 2022, © Isaac Julien, courtesy the artist…
How can memorials powerfully remind us of past horrors? How can they keep the atrocities of the past alive and relevant? Micha Ullmann’s Berlin memorial (above, by…
Nick Moss reviews Hot Off the Griddle, an exhibition of Alice Neel’s art at the Barbican Art Gallery, till 21st May 2023. Image above: Support the Union,…
On Wednesday, 30 October 1929, the following article was published in the German Frankfurter Zeitung, translated into German by M. Schillskaya from a Soviet newspaper. The original…
In each new outbreak of conflict in the world, there are different sets of structures of feeling at work, that is to say ways of thinking about…
The ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews used evergreen wreaths, garlands, and trees to symbolise their respect for nature and their belief in eternal life. The pagan Europeans…
2023 is the year A.I. art has spread exponentially. Artists are using A.I. and, whether they are declaring it or not, it’s out there and influencing everyone….
The poetry world hates poor poets. Discuss if you’ve ever been told your poem has been accepted for publication (hurrah!) but there’s no fee (how do I…
Ed Edwards asks how does a dramatist create realistic characters in the context of Empire and the end of Empire? When I first became aware of the horrors…
Last year, I wrote a book that disappeared. I’m not sure why, but it might have had something to do with the culture wars. If this is…
Wedges Some thoughts on solidarity, democratic deliberation, and class struggle by David Betteridge Cartoon by Bob Starrett I Whoever is without fault among us, let them be the…
The growing corporatisation of public space: From public good, to public as consumer. Parks and public spaces are increasingly being used and situated as revenue generators whilst…
Finally clocking off for the day, leaving the dark satanic cotton mills of Manchester and Lancashire behind for a few precious hours, what were the options available…
March 17 is traditionally St Patrick’s Day, a day when ‘Irishness’ is celebrated all over the world. This date is traditionally held to be the date of…
Culture Matters is pleased to present this short film by Professor Esther Leslie, Carl Joyce and Mike Quille. Professor Leslie’s text is below. Walter Benjamin was interested…
Razia Parveen criticises the government’s decision to make poetry optional for study at GCSE level. The image above is of John Agard The Tory government has recently…
Razia Parveen argues that pulling down statues should only be the beginning of a radical decolonisation of the educational curriculum I didn’t know that. Why didn’t they…
Jane Rosen writes about revolutionary children’s literature, based on the recent book she co-edited with Kimberley Reynolds and Michael Rosen, Reading and Rebellion: an Anthology of Radical…
Jane Rosen introduces ‘Don’t Shoot Your Class!’, by Tom Anderson, first published in The Revolution, June 1918. It is extracted from Reading and Rebellion, an Anthology of…
Martin Brown considers what a Marxist approach can tell us about our education system. Like everything else in a class-divided society, education is a battleground. In present…
Megan Behrent considers what we can learn from the great strides made in education in revolutionary Russia. “All Russia was learning to read, and reading – politics,…
Dr Geoff Bright introduces a fascinating arts-based educational project, concerned with remembering, re-imagining and re-enacting alternative community futures in the abandoned, de-industrialised pit communities in the North…
Chris Guiton presents a foundation essay for the education section, sketching out some of the links between education, culture and capitalism. The purpose of this introductory article…
