Articles

This smallish exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery commemorates the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) near Belgium, when British forces were led by Arthur, 1st Duke of Wellington, renowned for being a great soldier. Wellington and his achievements are set in a wider context, considering his earlier postings in India and Europe, and the people who helped him during…

No place for old men.

More men face lonely old age, says study

Sitting in the Bonneville Bar in Lower Clapton Road, Hackney I am using their WiFi on my laptop (like a lot of the other customers) reading about a study that says older men suffer great loneliness (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29567565).…

It is always satisfying to see a medium exploited to its fullest.  With Behind the Beautiful Forevers the news is doubly welcome because the man behind the production is Rufus Norris, soon to be the director of the National Theatre.  

This piece has it all.  The topic is current, global, and socially complex.  This story of a Mumbai slum community in the shadow of the…

Set during the South Sudanese civil war in 1987, when orphaned children Amir, Paul, Jeremiah and Abidel flee from their village by foot, across the Sahara desert, and Ethiopia to safety at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya. In 2000 they are transported to Kansas City, US, by way of a humanitarian intervention. The film examines the sense of culture shock experienced by Amir, Paul and Jeremiah while in…

Detailing events leading up to the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, by African Americans in their struggle for equal voting rights in US Southern States in 1965, lead by Martin Luther King. David Oyelowo is worthy of an Oscar nomination (but he mysteriously missed out), for his terrific take as the charismatic but flawed civil rights activist, and he renders the rhythm and cadence of Martin Luther King’s captivating speeches. Employing precision and restraint, 'Selma' feels at times like a fly-on-the-wall documentary; building up the tension while the story unfolds. A well-made history film, with an ongoing relevance due to events in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.