Culture

“What is a good life?”: The Standard of Living in review 

“What is a good life?” This axiological question, asked earnestly in the opening lines of James Graham’s The Standard of Living – playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket until December 12 – is often overlooked by the fractured and hyper-specialised discipline of economics.

Diverse voices: ‘Inshallah, Madonna, Inshallah’ by Miljenko Jergović 

‘When he created Earth and these lands upon it, when he divided people into...

Art as protest on university campuses

CW: rape. This week, Cornell University has made headlines as prosecutors reopened an investigation into...

Good grief! Why do we feel for the death of fictional people?

Whether it’s a mild sniffle or full-blown tears, I always end up feeling a bit ridiculous about the whole ordeal when it’s over. I mean, it’s not real, is it? Why do I waste my grief on things that haven’t happened, that will never happen?

‘and all manner of things shall be well’

Jack Glynne-Jones explores how T.S. Eliot provides solace in periods of stress

In Conversation: Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds

A chat with Enter Shikari's frontman ahead of the release of their highly-anticipated sixth studio album, 'Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible'

Review: For Sama

It is 2016, in Aleppo, Syria, and Waad al-Kateab is filming the world that unfolds around her, with a handheld film camera. This world...

In conversation: Chase Rice

US Country singer-songwriter Chase Rice has gone Platinum multiple times, co-written a Diamond-certified hit, and last year reached No. 1 with his single...

Review: Diary of a Murderer and Other Stories by Kim Young-Ha

‘It’s been twenty-five years since I last murdered someone, or has it been twenty-six?’ A serial killer suffering from Alzheimer’s attempts to protect his daughter...

Review: Dr Faustus

“Why this is hell, nor am I out of it.”  As clawing hands ooze from behind a bookshelf, as twisted shadows creep against the walls,...

Interview with Musician and Neuroscientist Izzy Frances

Musician and neuroscientist Izzy Frances loves to play on your heartstrings. Propelled by a desire to understand herself and others, Izzy has burst onto...

Picasso at the RA and the experience of solitude

The curved, sick, and boney fingers are everywhere. The Frugal Meal (1904), one of Picasso’s early paper engravings, is immediately striking.

C’est la Brie: why we love cheesy music

Few would care to admit that the dated tunes of 'cheese' make up a significant portion of our listening habits, and yet music once...

Where Things Turn Out Different

Bombay is an Anglicisation of the Marathi word Mumbai. For this reason, it has become a source of awkwardness.

A Hard Day’s Nightmare: Music and Sleep Paralysis

A typical depiction of sleep paralysis may be found in Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting ‘The Nightmare’. A woman in a clingy white dress sprawls...

Review: Conversations with Friends

At one point in Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, the protagonist, Frances, tells her best friend and former girlfriend, Bobbi: ‘If I could talk like you...

Review: Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG

In December 2017, Bad Bunny performed just one block from where I was living at the time in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I didn’t know who...

David Copperfield: strikingly modern?

We often speak of a ‘writer for our times’, the ‘voice of a generation’ – there is this need to define our age, to...

Photo Editorial: Inheritance

"Sentimental value": it's an emotional attachment that can be hard to put your finger on, an intimate sense of connection which runs more deeply...

Brits 2020: Where performance met politics

This year’s Brit awards took place on the 18th of February, and did not disappoint as a night of celebration of British culture, entertainment...

Review: That Reminds Me (2019)

Fragmentary, authentic and poetic – Derek Owusu’s latest publication, That Reminds Me, succeeds in its painfully honest exploration of a young Ghanaian boy’s journey into adulthood.  When...

Translating nature into the theatre

Audition season for Trinity plays is beginning. Prepare your monologues and get ready to neglect your studies. More importantly though, get shopping for a...

Review: Facial Recognition

In “Facial Recognition”, the main organiser, Lucy Tirahan’s ambition is clear: to break the unspoken taboos surrounding mixed-ethnic heritage. The exhibition is extremely successful. It avoids romanticizing while...

In conversation: Greta Morgan of Vampire Weekend and Springtime Carnivore

Greta Morgan - otherwise known as Springtime Carnivore - has made a name for herself as a touring member of indie rock band Vampire...

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