Forensic Architecture and Violence
Thresholds of Detectability and Investigative Aesthetics The state, via the police and criminal justice system, is normally responsible for the investigating the crimes of individuals. But what happens when the state is the alleged criminal and those seeking to uncover...
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Digital Healthcare: On the ethics and politics of data
A two-day symposium on ‘Digital Healthcare’ was held last month at the University of Nottingham, focusing on the social logics, ethics and politics of data and technology provision. Speakers and delegates from a range of disciplines came together to discuss and...
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Performing Masculinity
In a little over an hour, these two talented performers say as much or more about contemporary masculinity as a whole library shelfful of sociological tomes Peter McMaster’s “27” is a theatrical piece which springs from a young man’s intimation...
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Review: La Fille Inconnue (The Unknown Girl)
In a previous post, I lamented John Berger’s failure to represent realistically contextualised doctor-patient relations in his photo essay (with Jean Mohr) A Fortunate Man. By way of contrast, in reviewing The Unknown Girl or La Fille Inconnue, I argue...
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Logan Review: “The world is not the same as it was”
Is Logan the first post-Trump era movie? The movie Logan marks the end of a nearly twenty-year period in which Hugh Jackman has played the character Wolverine (AKA Logan). He is a mutant who has retractable metal claws, enhanced physical...
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T2 Trainspotting
A tale of masculinity, nostalgia and addiction Warning: Contains Spoilers There have been few sequels more eagerly anticipated than T2 Trainspotting, the follow-up to Trainspotting, Danny Boyle’s landmark film of 1996. Based on the original books by Scottish author Irvine...
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A Fortunate Man: the story of a country doctor
John Berger: 5 November 1926 to 2 January 2017 I took John Berger’s book A Fortunate Man: the story of a country doctor to read over the New Year holiday. Berger’s account of a General Practitioner working in the Forest...
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Review ‘Fatima': Insightful and Moving Account of Muslim Mother Working in France
‘Fatima’: Philippe Faucon’s insightful account of an immigrant Muslim mother living in France Fatima is raising her two teenage daughters in Lyon, having migrated from North Africa to marry a man from whom she is now divorced. She has two...
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I, Daniel Blake – is this the collapse of the social contract?
Ken Loach’s most recent film I, Daniel Blake tells the story of Daniel, a fifty nine year old joiner from Newcastle, and Katie, an out of work single mother of two from London. They become perhaps unlikely friends after meeting...
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A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer
There are perhaps as many cancer stories as people with cancer. There are also many ways of telling them – but a musical is one of the more risky. A Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer is described as...
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‘Narcos’ and the ‘War on Drugs’
“Magical realism is defined as what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe. There is a reason magical realism was born in Colombia” When we think about the devastation and harm that...
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Adventures in Human Being
Francis, Gavin (2015) Adventures in Human Being, London: Profile Books. Much praise has been lavished on ‘Adventures in Human Being’ by Gavin Francis, a multi-prize-winning best-seller admired by Hilary Mantel (who calls the book ‘sober and beautiful’), John Berger and Robin McKie....
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