I have a confession to make. In my youth I made some rash decisions, fell in with a bad crowd…and ended up taking GCSE Media Studies. It wasn’t entirely my fault – I was to some extent pushed into it by the limited options open to me when picking subjects – but ultimately I have [...]
The key headlines of the past few weeks have focused on pre-election measures and proposals aimed at trying to square the multitudinous circles of simultaneously getting the UK’s spiralling debt under control, creating a more equitable system, not cutting key public services, and reforming the financial system in a meaningful way in the midst of [...]
Working class universalism is not enough. Labour does not deserve our unwavering loyalty
It’s Friday evening. I should be out partying or down the pub. Instead I’m sitting in front of my computer, wondering what wondrous topic to opine upon for my column. I’ve scoured the news. David Cameron’s doing God and Boris, hopes for a [...]
For all of you unionists out there, there’s an interesting-looking free conference on in London this Saturday called by SOAS UCU, SOAS Unison, and SOAS Students’ Union.
“Hands off my Workmate Conference
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Saturday 17th October 2009
10am to 5.30pm
On the 12th June this year, the School of Oriental and African [...]
Walking through security at Portcullis House, the fabulously expensive building standing adjacent to the Houses of Parliament, is a bit like going through any airport anywhere in the world. But making your way through the spacious courtyard, past green trees and sun-dappled water features under the enormous sparkling glass dome towering overhead, you could be [...]
I’ve been very late flagging this up because of the little matter of moving from one side of the country to the other, but you may or may not know there is a strike going on. Staff at Tower Hamlets College, an F.E. College serving some of the poorest people in the country, are on [...]
You know that you’re a bit behind the times when you’re blogging about an article that was published almost a month ago, but I’ve been busy recently, and was so incensed by this nasty little article I feel I should write something. On July 11 the Guardian Graduate section put out a piece about networking [...]
It’s extremely easy to criticise the politics of cultural products if you don’t agree with absolutely everything they say. If you consider your understanding to be more nuanced, it is very easy to say that a book, a film, or an article doesn’t go far enough. The point is that not every great film is [...]
So it’s fallen to Alan Milburn, of all people, to confirm what a lot of people have long suspected: equality of opportunity in Britain is a bad joke, and getting worse. The Panel on Fair Access to the Professions has concluded that, surprise surprise, it’s much easier to get a good graduate-level job if you’re [...]
There’s a bit in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan where the eponymous character starts paraphrasing Moby Dick. “I’ll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares Maelstrom and round Perdition’s flames before I give him up!” he cries. Tracking down comedian Mark Steel can be a bit like that. Between [...]
