Prudish Republic: Sexual Repression in China
One night in 2005, the Nanjing police arrived at a gathering at the house of an academic; they came by night, their purpose unstated but obvious. It’s unclear for how long his activities had been known to the authorities, but the academic no doubt crossed a line when he publicly solicited the coop
Truth, Justice and the American Way: The secret politics of the superhero
In 1912, a socialist revolutionary named Iosif Dzhugashvili penned an article in the St Petersburg based newspaper Pravda under the pseudonym ‘Stalin’. Operating under various different names during his lifetime, it was neither his first nor his favourite alias, but it was to prove the most endu
A Pig Among Panthers
Richard Aoki was not your typical member of the Black Panther Party. Most famous for both arming and training the young Panthers in their early years, Aoki was a streetfighter belonging to many radical groups in the San Francisco Bay Area before joining the party. Rising to the rank of field marshal
All Quiet on the African Front: A troubling blind spot in the British press
Ask somebody what they know about the Second Congo War and you will receive one of two responses. Either there will be a look of blankness accompanied by a comment like “I didn’t even know there was a first Congo War”, or, the respondent’s eyes will drift as they struggle to gather vague fra
Ice Cream and Communism: The Sweet Side Effects of the Cuban Revolution
An immense ice-cream parlour stands on a leafy street in Havana, Cuba, like a towering UFO. Reputedly over 30,000 customers visit every day to devour scoops of Coppelia ice cream, Cuba’s government-subsidised snack of choice. The Havana branch of Coppelia lies in the art deco time warp of Vedado,
Out of Thin Air: MH370, Flight 8501 and vanishing aircraft
There’s something undeniably alarming about flying. It’s with a certain relief that even the most seasoned air traveller feels the thud of the plane’s wheels touching the ground. Despite the oft-used statistic that flying is safer than car travel, it is, for want of a better phrase, a bit scar
Profiting from Loss: India and the Right to Reproduce
“With all these vigilant vigils on virginity, you would think the country would have controlled its population by now.” ― Mallika Nawal, I’m a Woman & I’m on SALE. With roughly 1.27 billion people, India’s population is the second largest in the world. Projections for growth
The Return of the Prodigal Son? The Creative Potential of Violence Re-Examined.
The 20th century was the century of violence par excellence. People were killed on a larger scale between 1914 and 1990 than ever before. Treblinka and Kigali, Stalingrad and Sarajevo: the sites of these atrocities retain a dark and ominous prominence. Isaiah Berlin was moved to write: ‘I remember
“Go Home and Sit Still”: WWI and women’s colleges at Oxford
During the First World War, enrolment at Oxford plummeted. In 1914 Oriel had been home to 133 undergraduates; in 1917, only ten remained. Over the course of the war, 14,561 members of Oxford University enlisted and by 1918 approximately 20 per cent of those men were dead. As the town grew into a cen