ESSAYS

Sep 28, 20245 min read

Lost Worlds: In Conversation with Professor Avi Shlaim

By 1951 the Iraqi-Jewish community, which had been in the region for over two thousand years, was faced with an existential choice.

Jul 2, 20246 min read

The Definition of Insanity: The Tory misdiagnosis of Britain’s mental health crisis

A misdiagnosis has been made — and our nation’s mental wellbeing will continue to deteriorate until the true source is identified.

Mar 10, 20248 min read

Adventure in Solitude

...as she bore both a personal and reportorial witness to the labour of “dying, when one loves life so much.”

Feb 8, 20248 min read

Grief Sequence

The problem with discussing grief is with words: the ways they fail and succeed to signify themselves.

Dec 8, 20237 min read

Tongue-Tied

Finding yourself aboard the Taipei metro, a voice over the tannoy states the station towards which you are heading in clear-cut Mandarin.

Dec 7, 20237 min read

Hyper-Mechanical Reproduction

In the last twenty years, big budget studio cinema has begun to account for most global box office sales.

Dec 6, 20237 min read

Women of the World, Work!

Novels about work have become ubiquitous.

Dec 5, 20236 min read

Two More Years

Paris was tense on election day. Just outside a polling centre in in Le Marais voters tore down photos of incumbent president Macron.

Dec 4, 20237 min read

In the Beginning was the Word

'Criticism is, in its highest development, simply a mood’.

Dec 2, 20238 min read

Eyes to the Right

'Tell me who your enemy is, and I will tell you who you are’.

Nov 23, 20237 min read

Green New Deal?

The late sociologist Bruno Latour and his collaborator Nikolaj Schultz are at the forefront of a newly conceptualised ecological battle.

Nov 16, 20237 min read

A Continuous Prayer

Abrus precatorius is a flowering plant native to Asia, whose cheery, Christmas-red seeds also contain the lethal substance abrin.

Nov 11, 20235 min read

In the Footsteps of Others

For me, every new year begins with an all-day hike.

Nov 9, 20237 min read

Language Against Itself: The German Universe of Walter Benjamin and his non-German Universality

Walter Benjamin is often perceived as a puzzle to be solved.

Aug 3, 20237 min read

After the Jazz Age Ended: Fleeting Fame, Photography, and Launderettes

KAT FRIEGE- The British photographer Barbara Ker-Seymer had an artistic eye.

Apr 23, 20238 min read

Sounding the alarm: a publisher’s climate list

In this essay, Sarah Moorhouse reviews three climate books recommended by a sustainable London-based book publisher.

Apr 17, 20178 min read

Behind the Camera

Towards the close of This Is Not a Film (2011), a despondent Jafar Panahi is cajoled by his friend and fellow filmmaker Mojtaba...

Apr 17, 20179 min read

How the Text Lost its Body

In the 1980s when the web was in a protozoic stage of forums known as usenet, Mark V Shaney was a prolific and eclectic user. His posts...