Why do we love mocking scam victims online?
You can try and deny it, but we love laughing in the face of innocent scam victims. The more elaborate the scam, the louder the taunts. But at a time when anti-bullying agendas are everywhere, why are we so quick to mock the internet's most vulnerable? A very shoddy photoshop...
Current in Culture
US court rules that elephants are not people
A court has ruled that five elephants from Colorado zoo are not people after an animal rights group argued that they were effectively imprisoned. A court has ruled that elephants are not legally regarded as people. This bizarre judgement is the result of an ongoing bid to free five elephants...
Green Day swap ‘American Idiot’ lyric for Elon Musk’s name
While performing in Elon Musk’s home country of South Africa, punk band Green Day replaced a lyric from ‘American Idiot’ with his name. Elon Musk has been causing controversy this week as he steps into his new role as Administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency. During his speech at...
Snoop Dogg hit with backlash for Trump pre-inauguration ball
Rapper and entertainer Snoop Dogg was hit with criticism for performing alongside Nelly, Soulja Boy and others at the first ever ‘Crypto Ball’ in Washington, D.C. Snoop Dogg has been hit with a wave of criticism after appearing at the first ever ‘Crypto Ball’ in Washington D.C last week....
Is crochet anti-capitalist?
Are we so obsessed with watching other people document their creativity for profit that we’re unable to separate our own creativity from capitalism? Crochet has gone through several evolutions since its (debated) origins in Europe. It is widely agreed that Chinese craftsmen introduced a needlework style known as tambouring to...
Are music festivals facing extinction?
With difficulty booking headliners and rising costs, music festivals face their toughest year yet. Music events are often signposts of our year. Memories with friends, seeing acts you’ve only dreamed of witnessing play live. These near-mythic gatherings of collective euphoria are a mainstay of modern culture. But they’re facing a...
What men got wrong about the #WomenInMaleFields trend
As they did with the Man vs Bear debate, straight men have once again tried to satirise one of women’s online trends, and it’s only made them look worse. The #WomenInMaleFields trend that dominated social media not long ago satirises behaviours associated with toxic men and the dating habits they perpetuate. The general idea is: women overlay a photo/video of themselves with text quoting a heard-before excuse, as if they were...
Is it really lonely at the top?
It’s long been posited that money can’t buy happiness – apart from maybe the £9.90 it costs for prescribed antidepressants – but can alienation caused by excessive wealth harm our ability to form interpersonal connections? The other day I was walking through the display rooms in a well-known, Swedish, affordable furniture retailer, when my best mate pointed out two sinks side by side in one of the show bathrooms. She made...
Why we should be redirecting our gaze towards male bodies
There’s a distinct lack of body positivity discourse for male, masc, and non-binary bodies. We need to challenge the attitude that views a specific type of body as more beautiful than another and start to praise all kinds of peaches. Scrolling on social media, I come across a before and after photo, taken a year apart, of a young woman at the gym. She’s about my age and the...
Opinion – Blake Lively drama shows we’re still quick to hate women
Blake Lively proves our desire to watch successful women burn is both pervasive and insidious. But are times finally changing? When Colleen Hoover’s wildly successful novel ‘It Ends With Us’ was released as a feature film last year, the media went wild. But besides the dedicated fans who lined up to see their favourite characters on the silver screen, much of the attention shifted to on-set issues. It was somewhat surreal...
