John Foster / 24 Nov 2023
Condemned to Barbarism
The Populist Doomloop
It’s not that there’s a spectre haunting Europe. It’s that there are too many.(...)
Netherlands
Josh White / 12 Jun 2023
Disaffected Right
Making Sense of UnHerd
Old Queen Street Café can be found just off the corner of Storey’s Gate in Westminster. This plush restaurant is the innocuous salon of an online magazine for disaffected conservatives.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 31 May 2023
The Better 1990s
Bettie Serveert’s Palomine
As I stumbled into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot, the world outside the window painfully bright, I suddenly heard the voice of Bettie Serveert’s Carol van Dijk in my head: “Down under lock and key/There’s a brain tag to every secret”. I just couldn’t figure out why.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 05 Apr 2023
Turkish Future Past
Aşk, by Altin Gün
There are far worse things than sounding like a B-movie soundtrack from the 1970s. But when you combine that aesthetic with excellent musicianship and a willingness to experiment, the results are bound to bring pleasure.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 08 Dec 2021
Rock Without Workers
Dignity of Labour, by The Ex
While The Ex’s post-punk has enjoyed several revivals since their 1980 debut, it always felt too fresh to be a forebear. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 25 Nov 2021
Past and Present
Pip Blom’s Welcome Break
Although it’s easy to list Pip Blom’s forebears, especially the Riot Grrl-inflected pop of the 1990s, their second album Welcome Break still sounds like it was made from scratch. (...)
John Foster / 25 Jun 2021
Just Call it Capitalism
Europe’s Neoliberal Crisis
The development of the European Union in the last decade has been shaped by a malign synergy of neoliberalism and populism.(...)
John Foster / 15 Jun 2020
American Killing Fields
Vincent Bevins’ The Jakarta Method
The short twentieth century, running from 1914 to 1989 is generally divided into two halves. The first, ending 1945, is the era of mass slaughter. (...)
Paul Simon / 25 Oct 2019
The Dutch Rehearsal
Russia and the Ukraine Referendum
When EU leaders declined to start the accession process for North Macedonia and Albania, it was French President Emmanuel Macron who was singled out as the spoiler. (...)