David bowie writing by hand to create a new song

Writing by Hand

Writing by hand in the days of keyboards has become an art form, an anachronism, even an act of anarchy. When you write with a pencil you can smell the graphite, with a pen the resins, wax and precious oils. The words as they loop across the page awaken something emotional and vaguely nostalgic. For […]

Jennifer Lopez sings at Joe Biden inauguration

This Land is Your Land

When Jennifer Lopez sang ‘This Land is Your Land’ at the inauguration ceremony for new President Joe Biden, she was channelling Woody Guthrie’s belief in fair play and decency, in democracy, in the truth. His guitar carried the message: This machine kills fascists.  Guthrie wrote ‘This Land is Your Land’ in 1940 in response to […]

Margaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson

How To TAKE BACK CONTROL

When the miners went on strike to stop colliery closures in 1984, Mrs Thatcher wanted to take back control. She fought the miners with police batons and rhetoric, closed the pits and announced that there was no such thing as society. She pushed for the breakup of the welfare state and was eager to sell […]