Cilaw

LATEST ARTICLES ( 91 )

• Junk Journalism: the Oxy Saga

  SEVEN DAYS OF HEROIN cries the headline THIS IS WHAT AN EPIDEMIC LOOKS LIKE “Their bones look as if they might poke through their skin. Their eyes are sunken,... Read more

  Posted on 21 September 2017 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• In Praise of Embarrassing Rock Stars

  

  Reviewing The 1975’s Glastonbury set, the Daily Telegraph called Matt Healy a “future, slightly embarrassing rock star” for speaking up about Brexit. Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2016 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Power: Want It? Take It

  “Power can be taken, but not given,” Gloria Steinem wrote in Outrages Acts and Every Day Rebellions. “The process of taking is empowerment in itself. Read more

  Posted on 27 February 2016 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Migrant Or Refugee – An Unpleasant Fact

  

  Britain is abuzz with conversation about refugees and migrants. “We should take refugees,” I heard the other day. “But a lot of people coming are economic... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2015 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• There’s Something About Caitlyn

  

  . And it says a lot about what our culture wants and expects from women. “She couldn’t have picked a more provocative, attention-grabbing and, let’s face it,... Read more

  Posted on 02 June 2015 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• You’re Not Fat, You’re Not Even Big Boned: Women and Body Image

  

  So, I’m sat in a bar with two women. Bee is slight and curvy with a smile you could use as an emergency power generator. Her boyfriend is wrapped around her,... Read more

  Posted on 19 May 2015 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Cruel Ignorance of Tory Benefit Policy

  

  The Tories first proposed cutting housing benefits for under-25s in 2012. Like a bloated corpse, the idea keeps bobbing up, reeking of meanness and privilege. Read more

  Posted on 06 May 2015 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• The Imitation Game – Sex, Morality & Responsibility

  

  According to Variety: “Michelle Obama lauded The Imitation Game … for helping to break stereotypes about gay people.” Excuse me while I gnash my teeth. What... Read more

  Posted on 20 February 2015 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Invisible Women

  

  “Women who are not stereotypically attractive, young, and able-bodied often speak of feeling ‘invisible’ — as if they don’t exist. Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2015 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Beyonce at the Grammys – Put Some Clothes on It

  

  When photos of Beyonce at the 2014 Grammys hit the internet my jaw unhinged like that of a python preparing to swallow a goat. Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2014 CELEB, CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Media Double Standards

  

  It’s a promising title: The Double Standard That Lets Elites Survive Even Catastrophic Failures But it turns out Conor Friedersdorf’s article, which argues... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2014 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Philip Seymour Hoffman – Tribute & Tragedy

  

  Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death floored me. Celebrities die more-or-less self-inflicted deaths at a depressingly regular rate but we usually find (or invent) a... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2014 CELEB, DEBATE, ENTERTAINMENT, SOCIETY

• Water Cannon A Weapon of Class Warfare

  

  Some headlines I have to read twice to make sure my screen-weary eyes aren’t playing tricks on me. Headlines like: Police to ask home secretary to approve use o... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2014 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Buzz Bissinger and the Scarlet Letter

  

  For the most part, Buzz Bissinger’s Vanity Fair feature on a murder in small-town Oklahoma, ‘Darkness in August‘ is a limp pastiche of Truman Capote’s seminal... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2014 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Evil Pregnant Prostitute

  

  It is always instructive to see how popular culture treats half of the human race. Brooklyn’s Finest – a 2009 all-star-cast cop drama is remarkably telling. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2014 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Woody Guthrie's New Years Rulins

  

  Reblogged from Deborah Rose Reeves: I like these rulins, share some of them. I hope I do good this year. 1. Work more and better 2. Work by a schedule 3. Wash... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2013 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Marriage IS About You

  

  The internet is wonderfully democratic. And like all democracies it occasionally reveals things that make me wish natural selection worked faster. Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2013 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Political is Personal – Arundhati Roy Interviewed by Stephen Moss

  

  This blog post is almost two years old but somehow never made it online. The topic, however, of how male journalists talk to/write about women they interview... Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2013 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• Rice Cake Caveat Emptor

  

  Food in America blows my mind. Every time. I expect giant portions, food deserts (more on that soon), and the addition of high-fructose corn syrup to bloody... Read more

  Posted on 29 March 2013 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY

• A Taste of Burma

  Just nine more days till Myanmar and my excitement is ratcheting up at an unhealthy pace. It leapt several notches rereading Josceline Dimbleby’s sublime... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2013 CULTURE, DEBATE, SOCIETY