Some things are defined by the absence or silence around them. In The Histories by US artist Kerry James Marshall at the Royal Academy, we enter a giant visual world occupied solely by black figures. They are not angry or sad. They are just ordinary people, working out who they are and what they are […]
The Artist of Black Beauty and Reality Read More »
This film about the Arab Revolt in Palestine in 1936 is unlikely to gain a mass audience, but it very much deserves to be seen. It’s a major work that dramatises events before the Second World War when Britain was still in charge of the territory. Following the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Jews were starting
How We Sowed the Seeds of the Middle East Conflict Read More »
Pressure on the BBC continues from Donald Trump and his allies in the large right-wing sector of our own media. But as the Open Britain campaign implies, this is an attack on the heart of British political culture. (See address of article:) https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#search/bbc+trump/FMfcgzQcqtkLKVPQTvwtcZPZTTdmFZMR If you had to define “British values”, the BBC would come near
Defending the BBC through Dangerous Times Read More »
I followed my usual practice of reading the contents first – and the introduction at the end. I am glad I postponed the personal intro, because this is a rare Christian book which can make good sense to people of any faith or none. In it the author describes her life experience through the lens
Seven Deadly Sins That Won’t Go Away Read More »
So what does it all mean – Grayson Perry’s Delusions of Grandeur at the Wallace Collection in London? On one hand, it proclaims that we have a licence to produce beautiful, bright things again. Art can be childish, it can be colourful and flamboyant, joyful and fantastic. On the other hand, we confront the original,
Sinister Beauty in Rococo Art Read More »
(This follows on from the post on the book Crow) Ted Hughes was maybe the greatest English poet of his generation. But when he described Crow as his finest book, he was wrong. Its bleak philosophical message is unsubtle and the emotional register is passionate, extreme but two dimensional. Birthday Letters, published 28 years later,
Writing from the heart on human failure Read More »
The 1960s and 70s were a time of political and social upheaval in Britain. Under the governments of Harold Wilson, it seemed that power was edging ever closer to the people, but at the same time, radical politics was racing on further to the left. When I was a student at Oxford in the late
The Terrible Eye of Crow Read More »
Why are Union Jacks and the Cross of St George being flown on bridges and roundabouts? (Picture from this Saturday’s Guardian) Why do a majority of voters think foreign immigration is the single most important political issue? Why do a majority of British voters think (wrongly) that illegal immigration is greater than the legal kind?
Refugee Rights and Racist Politics Read More »
“The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction…” “Sooner murder an infant in its cradle/ Than nurse unacted desires…” What are we to make of the visionary artist William Blake (1757-1827)? How we loved him in the 1960s and 70s, when he seemed to validate the revolt against traditional authority – and
The Many Meanings of William Blake Read More »
What to make of The Golden Bough in the 21st Century? It’s an amazing work of late Victorian anthropology examining ancient myths and fertility rituals all over the world. And it shows how some of them were the roots that became part of Judaism and Christianity. All these rituals were designed to ensure the continuing
Primitive Magic of the Golden Bough Read More »
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