Blog – Page 25 – Culture Matters

Sacred Tree or Paradise Tree? The Christmas Tree and Nature

23 December 2023 / 498

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... Continue reading

Caoimhghin O Croidheain

Religion

The Quest for the Materialist Jesus: Part 2

21 December 2023 / 476

In Part 1, I argued that a historical materialist understanding of Jesus in a world of competing class interests needs to be revitalised, updated, and developed further... Continue reading

James Crossley

Religion

The Quest for the Materialist Jesus: Part 1

21 December 2023 / 478

Who or what is “the historical Jesus”? Put crudely, the historical Jesus is the figure historians reconstruct from behind the embellishments, mythmaking, and ideas attributed to him,... Continue reading

James Crossley

Films

A taste for paradox and contradiction: a review of ‘Godard Cinema’ by Cyril Leuthy

21 December 2023 / 518

Cyril Leuthy composes his posthumous portrait of one of cinema’s great enigmas by entwining, with painstaking precision, original and archived interviews, film clips, newsreels, epistolary recitations and... Continue reading

Brett Gregory

Films

Socialism, Scotland, Cinema and Song: Brett Gregory interviews David Archibald

19 December 2023 / 398

Brett Gregory, UK Desk for Arts Express on WBAI-FM Radio (New York) interviews David Archibald, Professor of Political Cinema (Theatre, Film & Television Studies) at the University of... Continue reading

Brett Gregory

Poetry

Dahiya Doctrine

16 December 2023 / 358

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... Continue reading

Nick Moss

Poetry

The Present

15 December 2023 / 336

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... Continue reading

Lisa Kelly

Poetry

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

15 December 2023 / 374

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.... Continue reading

Anne Irwin

TV, internet and other media

Frugality and austerity trump creativity: the top 25 global TV series in 2023

15 December 2023 / 518

Dennis Broe reviews this year’s TV series from around the world. Above image: Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson’s Churchill without the statesmanship American TV series, which had... Continue reading

Dennis Broe

Fiction

Putting the ‘Who Dun It?’ back at the centre of hard-boiled crime fiction

15 December 2023 / 361

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... Continue reading

Dennis Broe

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