First published on Medium on November 13th, 2020 “Articles, articles, articles, write that you remain unremarkable” The above is the best line in ‘Therefore I Am’, a new single from the sister-brother musical team of Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, released on Thursday. What’s…
First published on July 8, 2019, on Medium It’s worth pointing out, given the justified popularity of Killing Eve, that it succeeds despite its plot being preposterous. Both at the macro level of premise and the micro level of events, the hit BBC series is almost…
This article was originally published in Open Democracy on November 11th, 2017 (Remembrance Sunday). For the German painter Otto Dix, the First World War really was “all over by Christmas” – only it was Christmas 1918, after he had spent four years on the front…
Review of Kill All Normies by Angela Nagle, originally published in Medium on October 19th, 2017. Is there something about the internet which brings out the worst in people? It’s a question one has reason to consider every day. But a new book by Angela…
This article was originally published on politics.co.uk on October 13th, 2017. Having seen a fair bit of Chris Rock’s stand up comedy, I wasn’t very surprised to hear him use a six-letter word that rhymes with ‘digger’ on Friday’s Graham Norton Show on the BBC.…
Review of I am Not Your Negro, about James Baldwin, originally published in Little Atoms on April 5th, 2017. I’ll always remember the mind-expanding moment when as a younger man I watched footage of James Baldwin, cigarette in hand, looking down the barrel of a…
This essay was originally published in Little Atoms on January 20th, 2017. As the nation’s political leaders jostled for position after the Brexit vote in the EU referendum, a popular hot take among lazy journalists was to say how it was all “just like Game…
Review of Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea by Shiraz Maher, originally published in Progress magazine on June 9th, 2016. A master terrorist is debating with a subordinate over some point of strategy in their bunker. The sheikh narrows his eyes, and after careful consideration remarks:…
Review of Listen, Liberal by Thomas Frank, originally published in Prospect magazine on March 15th, 2016. One of the notable features of this carnival of bunkum we agree to call the US presidential election, with its insurgent candidates and controversial rhetoric, is how none of…