Yes in my backyard! It’s time to get London building June 17, 2024 In JG Ballard’s High-Rise, life in a pseudo-luxury tower block disintegrates into atavistic violence with residents of different floors battling for territory and against the rigid class divisions the building itself imposes on them. London hasn’t quite reached this stage, but like all dystopias the novel magnifies a basic truth – that the urban environment [...]
Baillie Gifford sponsorship row reflects the sorry state of the arts May 31, 2024 Book festivals have come under pressure to refuse funding from Baillie Gifford.
Eco activists calling for literature festival boycotts should read a book May 20, 2024 Writers signing a letter calling on book festival sponsor Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuels exhibit a lazy habit of mind that has no place in literature, says Alys Denby The arts should always be anti-establishment. Only an autocracy would demand that all its creative output mindlessly cohered to the values of the regime. [...]
Humza Yousaf’s SNP is more like a cult than a political project April 30, 2024 The SNP has held on to power in Scotland through the force of personality of its leaders and the pursuit of independence at all cost
Sadiq Khan should remember there’s no such thing as a free lunch April 19, 2024 Free school meals for the children on multi-millionaires is classic Khan – superficial, unevidenced and the wrong priority for London, says Alys Denby Sadiq Khan has made the promise of permanent free school meals the centrepiece of his reelection campaign. It’s typical of the Mayor’s approach to governing, being utterly superficial, unevidenced and the wrong [...]
The £950bn pension plan: Why the ‘triple lock’ is entirely unsustainable April 9, 2024 The current pension age is 66 but if you were born after 5 April 1960 it’s 67. This is set to rise to 68, but a decision on the exact timetable has been deferred until after the election
Rachel Reeves is cherry-picking Thatcher’s legacy – and not just the good bits March 20, 2024 Rachel Reeves talks of a 1979 moment - but some policies veer away from those that Margaret Thatcher would have approved
Tories should get back to the real world – just not the one Lee Anderson lives in March 13, 2024 Far from reflecting ‘the real world’, the Anderson extended universe is as full of artifice as anything else in politics, says Alys Denby Lee Anderson’s show on GB News is called The Real World, yet behind the scenes it’s anything but. The show is broadcast on a Friday evening and set up to give viewers [...]
