In Defence of Romantic Comedies
When I watched Bridget Jones’s Diary for the first time, I definitely wasn’t its target audience. As a twelve-year-old, I didn’t exactly identify with Bridget’s madcap single-woman-in-her-thirties antics, including answering the phone to her mum with the opener “Bridget Jones: want
The Embryonic Tale: Hugo, Enjolras and Les Misères
Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables has travelled far from its father’s pen. Eager for material, contemporary culture seems to regularly lead it astray, projecting simplification (or mere fabrication) onto its surface. However, as it rolled from the press in 1862, Hugo’s novel had already strayed fr
“We comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted”: an interview with David Walsh
“7 X TdF champ.” Lance Armstrong’s Twitter bio bears none of the signs of contrition one might expect from an exposed elite sportsman. Despite world outrage when proof of his drug-cheating was uncovered, Armstrong’s crimes seem to have dipped in significance, and his blatantly incorrect clai
Not an Apology: The Real Housewives and Me
I have, in true Housewives fashion, only one thing to say to you. I regret nothing. This is no cautionary tale. I will make you see the light. Nobody plans on catching The Real Housewives fever. But after a friend showed me an episode one summer day, I got it, and I got it bad. Before […]
“An artist is just a regular person”: An Interview with Koki Tanaka
Koki Tanaka is perhaps the contemporary art world’s quietest radical: a man who, since being selected as Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year in 2015, has proceeded to gently undermine the very concept of ‘the artist’ in favour of encouraging collective action and historical re
The Fault, Dear Brutus, is Not in Our Students
First, a confession: I’m a second year English student, but aged sixteen, I couldn’t stand Shakespeare. I know, I know. It’s the kind of blasphemy which ignites witch-hunts and kicks academia into uproar. I’ll hasten to point out that I do like Shakespeare now. And my transformation in opini
“I call myself an artist that writes with poetry”: An Interview with Robert Montgomery
I pick up the phone to Robert Montgomery and start speaking in the same manner as I would to someone I have known for years. ‘Hey, how are you? Have you had a really busy week?’ I ask him, rather abruptly. He humours me, and decides to talk me through his schedule that week. ‘I’ve […]
The Dangerous Digitalisation of Pokémon Go
For internet hermits sitting on benches in parks and squares over the past month people-watching must have taken on a repetitive spin: swathes of young men and women popping up to meander through public space, glued to their iPhone 6, and only lifting their heads to exchange brief but excited chatte
From East to West: Yu-Gi-Oh and its Censorship Laws
I was first called into student politics when I was 8 years old, protesting with great bitterness the blanket ban of Yu-Gi-Oh cards by my junior school. Considering the regular break-time arguments and high-profile thefts, the ban was hardly unexpected. Yet I took it particularly hard because Yu-Gi-