Great songs rise above ugly intentions, and Sweet Home Alabama deserves to be listened to with a critical and attentive ear. Beneath the redneck rumble and tumbling there’s a slice of American History to be discovered.
The Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig was once among the most popular and most translated writers in the world. English Heritage’s widely criticised refusal to commemorate his residence in London provides an entry point into a discussion on the role of the intellectual, Brexit, and the meaning of Europe.
Great songs rise above ugly intentions, and Sweet Home Alabama deserves to be listened to with a critical and attentive ear. Beneath the redneck rumble and tumbling there’s a slice of American History to be discovered.
Situated adjacent to the Crimean Parliament building in Simferopol, the newly rebuilt Cathedral of Saint Alexander Nevsky is a magnificent structure. Gilded onion-domes, Greco-Roman columns and pediments – it looks every bit as classy as a well financed Orthodox cathedral should be. On entering, a question occurs to me, however – why are the icons […]
English identity sits at the centre of the debate on British membership of the EU, but that identity, moulded by television and the tabloid media has become a surrogate Englishness dominated by pint supping, cricket watching, and endless mugs of tea; an identity shorn of its uncomfortable, radical roots. What, though might the English tradition […]
There are, of course, thousands of places to see in Ireland, a country rich with history and natural beauty. We’ve put together, though, a varied list of places throughout the whole Island (including Northern Ireland), that together will give you a great experience of the Emerald Isle. Ben Bulben, Co. Sligo Ben Bulben, or Binn […]
Though many may rightfully or otherwise shirk at the idea of engaging with poetry once it ventures beyond daffodils, greasy cash registers, and cold to the touch potatoes, there have perpetually been wordsmiths who manage to conjure up celestial enduring imagery while simultaneously refusing to pander to the school examination set. Kent born poet and […]
“I just felt a bit annoyed, nothing too deep!” Hollie Mcnish is talking about the first time she performed in front of an audience. “It was at the Poetry Café, Covent Garden, at a night called Poetry Unplugged, hosted by Nial O’Sullivan. He was brilliant and really welcoming” The place is usually packed with funny […]
Crossing Europe by train last summer, it was only on arrival in Romania that I realised we had unwittingly followed the very route (Paris-Munich-Budapest) taken by Jonathan Harker, the young solicitor at the start of Dracula (1897). Returning home to Bridport – in excellent health, I should probably add – I mentioned this to a […]
Patience and place are two key components to Kate Mosse‘s approach to writing. For Mosse, the best-selling author of the Languedoc trilogy (Labyrinth, Sepulchre, and Citadel), as well as the novels The Winter Ghost and her most recent The Taxidermist’s Daughter (not to mention the short stories, earlier novels, non-ficiton, and plays!) stories come when […]
Lake Street Dive, the four piece band formed ten years ago whilst students in the New England Conservatory of Music, take their name from a street of dive bars in Minneapolis. A strange combination – classically trained music and dive bars – but combinations are at the heart of this exceptionally talented band, whose third […]