Round Up

Enough

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Synonyms: a denunciation of aggressive Israeli nationalism and its macho, militaristic culture

Films

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The Children of the Nation: An Anthology of Working People’s Poetry from Contemporary Ireland

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Black Friday

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The Beatles and British culture: chippy class warriors to eternal spiritual explorers

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London's drowning

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Thursday, 07 November 2019 09:48

Round Up

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Thanks to the 115 poets who responded to the call-out in support of Labour's manifesto. The open letter and signatories are in the Cultural Commentary section.

Read 1817 times Last modified on Saturday, 14 December 2019 11:47

Mike Quille

Mike Quille is a writer, reviewer and chief editor of Culture Matters.

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Arts hub

black friday Poetry
Written by Fran Lock

black friday by Fran Lock, with unlovable labour by Steev Burgess hours awake, the news beginsits lisping instrumental. incidentalmusic for a hunger strike. the tv'sbland incitements. johnson's mouth,a gimmicked sleeve. dandelionand atomised, we barely breathe.hours awake. cities: slagheapsof a mass extinction. burningdirty crack-rock earth. we areready. for the end times,…
London is drowning – but keep the faith Music
Written by Mark Perryman

Philosophy Football’s Mark Perryman recalls the Clash's epic album of 40 years ago. Image designed by Hugh Tisdall for Philosophy Football 14th December 1979 – the year of Thatcher’s election was seen out with the release of London Calling, widely regarded as the finest of all Clash albums. Forty years…
Enough Poetry
Written by Steve Pottinger

Enough by Steve Pottinger And so, it comes.That winter morning when you wakeand find that you have had enough. You will give it up, you tell yourself,retreat to the hills, the coast,a cottage, a boat, a hutsome place out on the edge of it all.Anywhere but here. Anything but this.…
Begin again Poetry
Written by Chris Nash

Begin Again(For Jack Merrit) by Chris Nash Breathe in the bitter despair,Now breathe out the freer airAnd join, deep out - deep in This morning, crisp and clear... Yes, it’s true, ice and undeniableThose golden leaves of reasonHave been shaken to earth again,Once again they’ve made us foolsTo believe their…
The Election: Tampering Poetry
Written by Chris Norris

Tampering by Christopher Norris Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. - W.B. Yeats Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings. - W.H. Auden For poetry makes nothing happen: it survivesIn the valley of its…
The election: Violence Decides Poetry
Written by Peter Raynard

Violence Decides by Peter Raynard Poverty is the worst form of violence. - Gandhi Violence reads the autocue with a lobotomised looka curled lip creased amongst a thicket of words.Violence has a black belt in tunnel vision, whereon various occasions, birthdays, christenings, weddingshe is violence-in-waiting silently, observing the directiondifferent dialectics…
arise! film review Films
Written by Jack Brindelli

Jack Brindelli reviews arise!, the new film from Culture Matters, available to watch here. Director: Carl Joyce Writer: Paul Summers Cast: Joyce McAndrew, Amber Pearson, Brenda Heslop, Jac Howard, Jean Spence, Mollie Brown, Paul Summers Running time: 7 mins The situation in the UK is symptomatic the global political moment…
Waiting for Godot Theatre
Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell discusses Beckett's Waiting for Godot and its message to us today Great Carthage waged three wars. It was still powerful after the first, habitable still after the second. Gone without trace after the third. - Brecht, 1951 (transl. JF) Samuel Beckett died thirty years ago, on 22 December…

Culture hub

How to read an election Cultural Commentary
Written by Mark Perryman

Mark Perryman provides a handy reading guide to the General Election There’s not much doubt politics is getting hot, hotter, hottest – just as the nights draw in and get cold, cold, colder as Boris Johnson seek to bring some kind of ending to the sorry saga of all things…
The election: brewing, pubs and beer in Labour's Manifesto Eating & Drinking
Written by Keith Flett

Keith Flett sets out some proposals for progressive policies, and discusses how the Labour Manifesto begins the task of addressing a radical overhaul of brewing, pubs and beer Labour has produced a radical Manifesto and it contains some important passages that will positively impact those who drink beer, those who…
The Children of the Nation: An Anthology of Working People’s Poetry from Contemporary Ireland Festivals/ Events
Written by Jenny Farrell

The Children of the Nation: An Anthology of Working People’s Poetry from Contemporary Ireland On Saturday, 23rd November at 3 p.m. in Connolly Books, Dublin, Fr. Peter McVerry will launch a unique anthology of poetry in both Irish and English by Irish working-class writers from the thirty-two counties of Ireland.…
The election: Ask this, how do they treat the vulnerable, the stranger, the poor? Cultural Commentary
Written by David Betteridge

David Betteridge responds to our call-out for material relevant to the election with a few words based on the Peking Opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy (continued) by David Betteridge, illustrated by Bob Starrett We all know who the Tiger is. We all know where its well-armed stronghold lies. We…
Socially engaged, internationalist and critical: the destruction of GDR culture since reunification Cultural Commentary
Written by John Green

John Green discusses the obliteration of GDR culture since reunification. The mosaic is in Eisenhüttenstadt, and is by Walter Womacka This month sees the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, leading a year later to the annexation of the former German Democratic Republic by the Federal Republic.…
Lively, incisive and erudite: Marxist Literary Criticism Today, by Barbara Foley Cultural Commentary
Written by Tony McKenna

Tony McKenna praises Marxist Literary Criticism Today (Pluto Press, £19.99) for its clarity, coherence, and insightfulness For the last few decades the world of ‘Marxist’ literary criticism has been dominated by a tiny coterie of elite thinkers, figures like Fredric Jameson and Terry Eagleton, ‘top-flight intellectuals’ whose tortuous, indecipherable language…
Gandhi: 'The worst form of violence is poverty' Cultural Commentary
Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell reviews Walk with Gandhi, Bóthar na Saoirse, by Gabriel Rosenstock (Author) and Masood Hussain (Illustrator) Bóthar na Saoirse (Road to Freedom) Walk with Gandhi is a beautiful book to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s birth on 2 October 1869. The book is a collection of…
Tackling class-based discrimination in British culture Cultural Commentary
Written by Deirdre ONeill and Mike Wayne

Deirdre O’Neill and Mike Wayne argue that an incoming Labour government should make class discrimination a 'protected characteristic' in law. At the 2019 TUC Congress Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow Labour minister Laura Pidcock both spoke about establishing a new workers’ protection agency enforcing individual and collective employment rights. At the…