Photography
Chronicling radical shifts across the UK in the 70s & 80s
A new exhibitions brings together the work of photographers who documented the deep unrest of these pivotal decades.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Britain
Activism
UK unemployment is falling, but poverty isn’t
The insecure economy — Amid the rising cost of living, the government is hiding behind falling unemployment figures while workers in almost every industry continue to suffer, writes Ella Glover.
Written by: Ella Glover
Activism
The messy history of the nurses’ strikes in 1988
‘We let rip’ — As nursing unions gear up to protest the government’s three per cent pandemic pay rise, people who attended the UK’s first-ever national nurses’ strike reflect on its legacy.
Written by: Moya Crockett
Culture
Photos capturing the fraught nature of English identity
England Your England — A new exhibition wrestles with complex questions around what it means to be English at a time of strife and political upheaval.
Written by: Zoe Whitfield
Activism
Young UK Muslims on growing up in the shadow of 9/11
20 years on — To mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Gen Z Muslims reflect on how the tragedy spurred on Islamophobia in Britain, and the impact it’s had on their lives.
Written by: Mishti Ali
Culture
Jamie Hawkesworth’s tender portrait of Britain
The British Isles — Over the span of 13 years, the Suffolk-born photographer travelled up and down the country to create a poignant series of images of a modern, multicultural United Kingdom.
Written by: Huck
Activism
The British school kids who took on the Nazis in the ‘70s
Fighting fascism — During the 1970s, an organisation made up of thousands of young people came together to combat racism in schools and beyond. While relatively forgotten, there are vital lessons to be learned from their organising.
Written by: Nic Murray
Activism
Inside an NHS hospital at breaking point
‘It‘s relentless‘ — While Covid infection rates may be dropping, the crisis continues unabated inside hospitals. Politics Editor Ben Smoke reports from Homerton Hospital, London, speaking to frontline medical staff about the profound emotional and physical toll they face every single day.
Written by: Ben Smoke
Culture
The Mitchell Brothers, British rap’s forgotten duo
Geezers with skills — In the early noughties, Owura “Tony” Nyanin and Kofi “Teddy” Hanson were signed to Mike Skinner’s label and two of the UK’s most influential MCs – then they disappeared. Now reunited over a decade later, the pair say the world wasn’t ready for them.
Written by: Sam Davies
Culture
Photos capturing the banal eccentricity of English life
Being British — Barry Lewis discusses his new book, which brings together some of the photographer’s more quietly powerful images from 1975 to 2005 to celebrate the richness of a shared culture.
Written by: Miss Rosen
Activism
We must change how we think about unemployment
Time to organise — In the 1920s and '30s, the National Unemployed Workers' Movement mobilised thousands of people. Now, a century on, a newly-launched radical organisation is bringing together workers made unemployed by the pandemic to demand and resist.
Written by: Polly Smythe