I don’t know whether you have noticed, but the word ‘urban’ seems to have changed, if not its meaning, then its connotation.   Steve Latham   I grew up in a small northern former industrial town, hollowed out by the decline of the cotton mills, and then reborn as a […]

How can we do cultural analysis? How do we avoid the opposite perils of mere journalism or arid abstraction?   Steve Latham   Journalism is important in pointing out immediate developments, in new pop song genres for instance, but the danger is remaining enmeshed in surface phenomena. On the other […]

The third series of “The man in the high castle” has finally been released on Amazon Prime. And disappointing it is too.   Steve Latham   This treatment of Philip K. Dick’s seminal novel began well enough, with frequent recognisable connections to the book. But as it has progressed, and […]

The UK government policy of Universal Credit is unanimously criticised by food banks, and homeless charities, as a major contributor to the further immiseration of the poorest sectors of society   Steve Latham   The idea was initially presented as a solution to the complex system of multiple benefits, confusing […]

It’s strange how today’s progressive orthodoxy becomes tomorrow’s outdated fashion. We can see this easily when we look at the past.   Steve Latham   Yesterday’s beliefs appear to us as the products of their times and their ideologies.  But we find it hard to apply this perspective to our […]