‘Heated Rivalry’ is reigniting dangerous debates about queer storytelling
The surprise hit for HBO Max has just been renewed for a second season – but its success highlights the age-old question of who gets to tell queer stories. Heated Rivalry, a show based on Rachel Reid’s novel about two ice hockey players who fall in love, was only meant to...
Current in Culture
Study says most streaming shows made by white people
A new report published by the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has found that over 90% of the top 250 programmes on streaming services were made by white people last year, an increase over 2024. Cultural diversity has seen a significant decrease this year compared to 2024, a...
Trump doubles down on Rob Reiner criticism after murder
The US president posted that the sudden death of Hollywood director and actor, Rob Reiner, was related to ‘Trump derangement syndrome,’ before repeating this criticism to reporters in the Oval Office several hours later. Donald Trump has received flack from both Democrats and Republicans this week after publicly criticising Rob...
Why are countries pulling out of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest?
Several European countries have pulled out of the Eurovision Song Contest, taking issue with Israel being allowed to participate despite its continued war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank since 2023. On Wednesday, Iceland became the fifth country to bow out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, saying...
What Pantone’s Colour of the Year says about the state of the world
For the first time, a shade of white has been given the prestigious ‘Colour of the Year’ title by Pantone. Every December, Pantone – a media company widely regarded as the mecca of colour theory – announces its annual ‘Colour of the Year’. This title appears frivolous on the face of...
The Warner Bros ownership race could drastically change streaming
Netflix had agreed a deal with Warner Bros to land its studio and streaming assets for $83 billion. That could soon be off the table, however, with the news that Paramount has just proposed an offer of $108.4 billion for the entire company. Can you hear that? That’s the sound...
Beeple’s ‘Regular Animals’ turns billionaires into terrifying robot dogs
A late entry for the most disturbing art installation of 2025, Beeple’s ‘Regular Animals’ features a pen of robotic dogs bearing the likeness of tech billionaires and revered artists. They canter around, snap photos, and take NFT dumps. ‘You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension,’ declared Nikola Tesla in 1898. I’d say we’re probably at that point. Onlookers at Art Basel Miami Beach are transfixed in a state...
Report reveals scope of extreme online abuse in English football
The BBC found that more than 2,000 extremely abusive social media posts were sent in a single weekend of Premier League and Women’s Super League action. As someone with roughly two hours per day scrolling X – no, I’m not proud of it – I’m fully aware of just how rife with abuse ‘Football Twitter’ is. While much of the self-proclaimed community is based on good hearted fun, primarily laughing in...
AI free media is fast becoming a modern USP
As people become increasingly fatigued with second guessing whether media bares any hallmarks of AI, ‘human made’ is fast becoming its own USP. How grimly predictable. Earning a crust in the world of publishing means my colleagues and I are more accustomed to dodging AI slop than most. Much like the machine learning systems continually reinventing themselves, we’re becoming increasingly adept over time, specifically at twigging where the creative output of...
Explaining the Gen Alpha ‘6-7’ TikTok trend
Are you an elderly Gen Zer? Confused about why the kids are nonsensically saying ‘6-7?’ Us too. Every so often, a moment in pop culture will arrive as a reminder that youth isn’t eternal. Hearing an in-joke you don’t understand or missing an obvious conversational reference can make even the most mentally robust person uneasy. Am I out of touch? Has the world moved on? Are we over the hill already? As...
