Culture
How The Beano survived war and web to reach 80
‘During World War II, The Dandy and The Beano became important propaganda tools in the fight against Nazism and Fascism. Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göering, and Benito Mussolini were lampooned in each comic, and copies of…
With age comes…poetry
No formula for winning the Autumn Voices poetry prize. Just write from the heart, read it aloud to check the sense and sound – and make sure you are over 70.
How to combat antisemitism and protect freedom of speech?
‘The way forward for people of goodwill who genuinely want to solve the conundrum – combating antisemitism while protecting free political speech – is to welcome the NEC Code as the latest incarnation of a…
Oscar Marzaroli: Scottish snapper
‘This must surely be one of the most extraordinary collections of photos of 20th century Scotland, and Glasgow in particular.’
Changing dirt into something beautiful
On yet another day when headlines of old and new media hammer home the madness and mayhem of 2018 politics, here’s a chance to let different words swirl and swell with Rachel McCrum’s Glassblower Dances,…
Refugee feeds tourists: Imad’s Syrian Kitchen
One diner’s casual satisfaction is another’s fight to survive. Deeply aware of being a tourist in an age of mass migration, Fay Young enjoys one of the best meals of her life cooked by a…
England’s southern North
‘Clearly, there are significant variations in economic and cultural output within the north of England. Before our very eyes, a new north-south divide is emerging, within what was previously understood as “the north” itself.’
Power of Food nourishes Edinburgh’s grassroots
Edinburgh’s grassroots community activism could be the best hope for the city. Preparing for the Power of Food Festival, Fay Young finds hope for the future in the revival of an ancient walled garden in…
A leur façon: the French and pop music
‘This further reinforces a sense of opposition to the system, yet while French rap artists address burning social issues, they incorporate French regard for poetry and philosophy to achieve music more lyrical and subtle than…
Rudolph von Ripper: artist eyewitness to Nazi terror
Eyewitness artists’ accounts of brutality in Nazi concentration camps are extremely rare. Sian Mackay describes her discovery of Rudolph von Ripper’s forgotten portfolio, work that deserves to stand alongside the art of his contemporaries Otto…
The ‘accepted’ rise of fascism
An artist’s eye-witness account of Hitler’s first concentration camp where academics, artists and political opponents of Nazism were imprisoned and tortured. An extract from Von Ripper’s Odyssey, Sian Mackay’s remarkable biography, gives a chilling insight…
Defending utopia from outsiders, dissidents and saboteurs?
‘In this he follows those other utopian traditions of the French revolutionary great terror, the purges of Stalin and Mao. His walled island state now resembles North Korea. If he were to enforce his ideal…