Some things never change. Brexit is still a shitshow, masculinity is still fragile and The ISIS team have decided that what they’ve got to say is worth sharing with you.

We figured that it can be hard to keep up with the rapid pace of news and pop culture during the busy weekdays so we’ve put together a list of the best and worst phenomena from the last seven days for you to catch up on. Enjoy.

Anti-LGBT Purges in Chechnya 

For 2 years now Chechen men suspected of being gay or bisexual have been held, tortured and killed in concentration camps. After a brief lull in disappearances, reports have emerged this week that the horrors have begun afresh. Gay relationships are still criminalised in 72 countries – many of which, like Saudi Arabia, are autocracies the UK still fosters close ties with. Masha Gessen, Russia’s leading LGBTQ+ activist, offered insight into the heart of the matter for The New York Review of Books. Jorrit

Gilette Advert 

If you haven’t had time to see this now’s your chance. Is it exploiting #MeToo for profit or conscientiously helping the cause? Does it even matter? Intrigued to know how many razors they sold as a result… I bet Gillette Venus sales went through the roof. Leela

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koPmuEyP3a0

Three Poems 

New College fellow and poet Hannah Sullivan won the T.S.Eliot prize this week with her debut collection Three Poems. You, Very Young In New York is a moving dive into the experience of being a young person in the big city. Hook-ups, Peaches and existentialism a plenty. Antonio

Heard It In A Past Life

After being propelled into the spotlight via a viral interview with Pharell, Maggie Rogers’s long anticipated debut album Heard It In A Past Life arrived on Friday. Rogers has distinctively mixed the earthy, easy naturalness of her earlier work with dance rhythms that form the beating heart of the tracks on this album. Beth

Mary Oliver 

I thought I’d share this perfect little poem by Mary Oliver in light of the news of her death this Thursday. Beth

Cardi B on The US Government Shutdown 

“I feel like we need to take some action–I don’t know what kinda action, cause this not what I do, but bitch, I’m scared” Cardi B, with acrylic nails and blue eyeliner, encapsulates a malaise that has followed us all into 2019. It’s awe-inspiring, actually. And I feel it does break through a shell of indifference, for once, you hear in her voice a useful rage: “Yeah BITCH – for HEALTHCARE!”.  Louis

https://www.instagram.com/p/BstmkvDFGAm/?fbclid=IwAR1O82F57mx8DF6jxsuV_ItLSJFW6gySnRfRmlb_TafwpT4_VRmBqHk3kfc

Illustration by Maia Webb-Hayward and Antonio Perricone. Words by Antonio Perricone, Leela Jadhav, Jorrit Donner-Wittkopf, Beth James and Louis Davidson. ∎