The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh concludes a month of partisan rancour in the United States arguably not seen since the 2016 election. At stake at the ‘job interview’ of the century were not only the careers and reputations of Christine Blasey Ford and Kavanaugh, but long-term trends in American politics and society including the centralising […]
Trump
Bolsonaro & Brazil’s Election
Two candidates remain in the Brazilian elections. One is a centre-left moderate, and former Mayor of Sao Paulo. The other is a former army captain, who has been a congressman for 28 years in nine different parties, has been quoted saying a female politician wasn’t worth raping, and dedicated his 2016 impeachment vote against Dilma […]
Roseanne: Top-Down Racism
The Rebooted sitcom Roseanne was recently cancelled by ABC after its title-star, Roseanne Barr, launched a racist and Islamophobic attack against Valerie Jarrett, Former advisor to Barack Obama. Barr, referencing Jarrett, tweeted “Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj”. The ape comparison is an age-old racist trope which has been used to dehumanise […]
The United States Has Withdrawn from the Iran Deal: What Next?
When Donald Trump tweeted in early 2016, “the Iran deal is terrible”, few took him seriously. A little over two years on, Twitter is a medium for diplomacy, Donald Trump is President, and America is withdrawing from the Iran Deal. This should not come as a shock. Not a single Republican supported the Obama-era accord, […]
Trump, Folklore and a New Album: An Interview With Daniel Bachman
Daniel Bachman is a guitar player and artist currently based in Fredericksburg, Virginia. His last record came out in the immediate wake of the election of Trump, and since then Bachman has been working in silence on his most intimate, challenging and artistically fulfilling record yet, entitled The Morning Star. The album moves easily between […]
The Paris Agreement – where is it now?
There’s no doubt that climate change is a hot topic now, and hearing about the recent COP23 environmental conference in Bonn, Germany, got me thinking. There’s also a lot going around on social media too, warning of the dangers that the effects of climate change are having on the environment, animals and humans too. What […]
The Women’s March on Washington: Take Two
This past weekend marked two important anniversaries for the United States of America; one year of Donald Trump in office, and one year since the largest organisation of protesters in US history under the historic Women’s March on Washington. And how did America celebrate? A shutdown of Congress after the legislators failed to negotiate extending […]
One year later- An analysis of the Trump administration so far
The arrival of January 2018 marks almost a year since Donald Trump was inaugurated as 45th US President, an event that occurred on 20th January 2017, with Mike Pence being appointed as Vice-President. The whole world was in utter disbelief at the time that a man with his views and actions could firstly be chosen […]
Album Review: Eminem – Revival
I have problems with Eminem. I’m disappointed by many of his releases since 2004, by the way he has often misdirected so much of his lyrical venom, by his reliance on artless shock value. Yet I remain fascinated by him, because anyone with a passion for the putting-together of words can appreciate that Marshall Mathers […]
2017: a year in reflection
Here we are, 2017 has nearly finished, and I know what you’re thinking…oh how this year has gone so quickly. As a decided cynic, I always find it amazing how cliché we always seem to get at the end of the year; I suppose it is the sentimentality that comes with Christmas. For many, this […]