Jan 13, 2015A Thousand Words for SnowA novella by Xiaolu Guo. First commissioned for Weather Stations, an international project exploring literary responses to climate change. Image by Derek Keats via Flickr PRELUDE A great iceberg is drifting on the water. If you were a bird or a fish, and if you followed this iceberg long enough, you…34 min read34 min read
Dec 18, 2014What actually happened at the Lima climate talks and are we all doomed?World leaders have been meeting year after to year to tackle climate change. Did this year’s talks in Lima manage to get anything done? Or are we all still headed for a worldwide climate apocalypse? …8 min read8 min read
Nov 12, 2014Why Don’t Young People Vote?When Rik Mayall died earlier this year, one of his most iconic works came to my attention. It was The Young Ones: the early 80s sitcom depicting student living. The Young Ones featured, and to some extent perpetuated, those familiar student clichés that have long since become defunct — poor…10 min read10 min read
Oct 31, 2014Laughing: A User’s ManualWe asked Padraig Reidy to explain the limits of free speech through the medium of offensive jokes. Comic artists Hannah Berry & Daniel Locke followed close behind with brushes. I went to the Bulimic Society’s annual party last week. …5 min read5 min read
Oct 20, 2014How Will History See the Hong Kong Protests?When Hong Kong was handed over to China from British rule in 1997, the promise was that nothing would really change. The metropolis would remain as it always was, in a strange compromise called ‘one country, two systems’. Recently China has promised universal suffrage to Hong Kong, to arrive in…7 min read7 min read
Oct 17, 2014The Road to Hel is Paved with Good Intentions“It will not stop here tonight.” “Not at all?” “What?” “It won’t stop here at all?” I say, trying to damp down the edge to my voice. The guy in the Deutsche Bahn uniform looks at me and shrugs, meaning he doesn’t understand. …14 min read14 min read
