Columns
Columns, Sabir on Security - Friday, September 24, 2010 0:03 - 3 Comments
Keeping Britain Unsafe: the stubborn myths of “effective” counter-terror
Since the introduction of the Terrorism Act in 2000, hundreds of new offences have been introduced and yet, this has hardly made us safer. Now that the legislation is up for review, Rizwaan Sabir argues, in his new column, that this is our chance to make sure we get rid of these redundant, harmful and unworkable assaults on our freedoms.
CounterSpin, Politics - Thursday, September 23, 2010 11:15 - 3 Comments
CounterSpin – Unnatural Selection: It’s only news when we say it is.
You probably know that a woman threw a cat in a bin in Coventry this month. You probably don't know that 75 people have been killed in Pakistan by US drones this month. This isn't anything to do with you or your interest in current affairs. As Musab Younis shows in this week's CounterSpin column, the importance of a news story has almost no bearing on the coverage it receives.
Columns, In Theory - Thursday, September 23, 2010 0:05 - 5 Comments
In Theory – Karl Marx’s fetishisms
We are surrounded by objects which have (at least potentially) the status of commodities, but what is this status and how does it relate to social life? In this week's column, political theorist Andrew Robinson explores the most famous and influential response to this question: Karl Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism. As Robinson shows, far from being an arid theoretical topic, commodity fetishism is, according to Marx himself, the most universal expression of capitalism.
Columns, Modern Times - Tuesday, September 21, 2010 1:54 - 1 Comment
Modern Times: Tabloid readership in opinion diversity shocker
Not a day passes without a newspaper headline screaming "outrage!" at us. Where does all this "outrage" come from? and who exactly is outraged by it? Isn’t it a bit tiring being outraged all the time? In the spirit of journalistic research, Corin Faife goes in search of answers.
Arts & Culture, The Cutting Edge - Monday, September 20, 2010 0:30 - 93 Comments
The End of the World As We Know It? The rise of the post-carbon era
In an exclusive new essay, political scientist Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed presents a dramatic picture of the world we're about to leave behind, and the new possibilities ahead. He argues that the age of Carbon is coming to a close, and only a concerted effort can prevent an impending crisis on a global scale.
Arts & Culture, Columns, Deserter's Songs, Features, Music & Dance - Saturday, September 18, 2010 17:46 - 6 Comments
Deserter’s Songs – Looking Backwards: In Defence of Nostalgia
When Dave Bell skims his ipod, the most common thing he looks out for is "the feeling of nostalgia". In this week's Deserter's Songs music column, he revisits the enduring spell of looking backwards. Through a tour of musical gems he shows us how "the past and the radical future may not be so hostile to one another" after all.
Devil's Advocate, Politics - Thursday, September 16, 2010 15:10 - 3 Comments
When Republicans and Ayatollahs agree: On the politics of Qur’an burnings and “The Ground Zero Mosque”
In his new 'Devil's Advocate' Column, Omer Ali examines the international storm over the so called "Ground Zero Mosque" and finds the usual mix of ubriddled bigotry and cynical manipulation.
Columns, Features, Modern Times - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 4:39 - 11 Comments
Modern Times: A voice from the Wilderness
In this week's 'Modern Times' column, Corin Faife discovers, through a mix of serendipity and curiosity, one of the most talked-about music videos of the past ten years: Arcade Fire's The Wilderness Downtown.
Columns, Diary of a Domestic Extremist, Politics - Tuesday, September 14, 2010 0:30 - 2 Comments
Morrissey, the privileged and the ‘Subspecies’ of Neoliberalism
Morrissey's outburst in Saturday's Guardian, calling the Chinese a "subspecies", provoked acres of outraged newsprint. And yet, as Mikhail Goldman argues in this week's diary, whilst many of us in countries like the UK may not consciously agree with the idea, we certainly end up benefiting from the very treatment of the Chinese and other Asians, Africans, Latin Americans and East Europeans as "subspecies". Our hypocritical outrage, Goldman points out, is no less outrageous.
Arts & Culture, Deserter's Songs, Music & Dance - Friday, September 10, 2010 22:08 - 5 Comments
Deserter’s Songs: A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens
In the first of a new series of columns on music, 'Deserter's Songs', Dave Bell discusses his fascination with what, he admits, is a "very boring" piece of music: Talking Heads' 'Heaven'.
This is a song, Bell argues, that epitomises "pop as Samuel Beckett might write it: tedious, beautiful and desperate".
