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Trump’s tariff war is not about economic nationalism, it’s a desperate attempt to prop up a failing system through class warfare, digital authoritarianism, and mass repression. As capitalism stumbles deeper into crisis, the dominant class turns to protectionism, billionaire governance, and algorithmic control to maintain its grip, ensuring that workers, migrants, and the global precariat bear the cost.
Choice is meant to liberate us, but what if it does the opposite? In the shift from physical to digital media, the promise of having everything at our fingertips has eroded the way we engage with culture itself.
As the American empire stumbles towards decline, Mark Fisher’s analysis of capitalist realism, the slow cancellation of the future, where crisis is managed rather than solved, finds its ultimate expression in Trumpism, the rise of the billionaire tech elite, and the ruling class’s increasing reliance on authoritarianism and reactionary culture wars to sustain its grip. This article traces the roots of US decline back to the 1970s, when Nixon and Reagan dismantled the post-war social contract, paving the way for financial speculation, deindustrialisation, and the monopolisation of power by tech oligarchs, before examining how today’s political and economic landscape is setting the stage for fascism.
The age of algorithmic authoritarianism is here: governance has been outsourced to billionaire-controlled social media and AI systems that manipulate reality, suppress dissent, and enforce ideological obedience through predictive algorithms and digital surveillance.
America’s War on Terror may have ended, but its brutal legacy lives on as Trump resurrects its worst excesses, using Guantánamo Bay to detain migrants in a grotesque expansion of the carceral state.
The Trump administration’s second term is proving to be not a resurgence of American power, but a chaotic acceleration of its decline, marked by incoherence, reactionary bluster, and an open invitation for geopolitical adversaries to fill the void left by its retreat.
Patrick Keiller’s Robinson trilogy explores modern Britain through a psychogeographic lens, revealing how landscapes shape collective psychology. The films expose spaces that reflect political and social forces underlying the nation’s fractures.
With the climate crisis intensifying, net zero emissions by 2050 has emerged as a key policy goal to limit global warming, but its feasibility and fairness are contested across the political spectrum. This post argues for ambitious climate action to reach net zero, situating the debate within broader capitalist critiques and speculative futures.
Conspiracy theories have proliferated from the fringes to the mainstream, shaped by societal drivers like simplified narratives, confirmation bias, and changes in media. This post explores the roots of ‘conspiracism’ and paths back to reason.
The inexorable march of technological progress casts a shadow over humanity’s future, as artificial minds made for war threaten to surpass and subjugate their mortal creators.
On a seemingly ordinary Thursday, at the time-honoured Glyndebourne opera festival, an unexpected interlude of protest emerged. In the sanctuary of the arts, amid the melody of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, a dissenting chorus brought the opera to a standstill. Sparked by the cause of Just Stop Oil, the interruption blended a traditional form of high culture with the pressing concerns of our era. This is the narrative of that day, a symphony of dissent resounding from the grand opera house to the streets of London.
As we delve deeper into the tumultuous seas of the 21st century, the airwaves have become a battleground for the soul of society. One such combatant, GB News, has emerged as a rallying point for reactionary rhetoric, a stark contrast to the march of progressive values. Let’s dissect the ways in which GB News stands as a barrier to our shared vision of a more equitable, inclusive, and just society.
In the vanguard of dissent, demanding justice, a new breed of rebels is rising, and their fight is our fight. Their actions carry the echoes of a movement that stood firm in the face of oppression more than a century ago—the Suffragettes. Today, we draw parallels between these trailblazers and the Just Stop Oil protestors, not to dilute the significance of either struggle but to highlight the enduring power of civil disobedience in the quest for justice.
Here we delve into the radicalisation of former Conservative Member of Parliament, Andrew Bridgen, and his alignment with right-wing populist ideologies. Highlighting the pivotal role of disinformation networks and socio-economic factors, we explore the concerning trend of right-wing radicalisation in the UK, its implications for democracy, and potential countermeasures.
In a world increasingly captivated by images and representations, the British monarchy finds itself at the epicentre of a growing debate on the role of such institutions in a modern democratic society. As the United Kingdom prepares for the coronation of a new king, it is essential to examine the monarchy’s relevance and compatibility with the values of democracy, fairness, and social justice that define the aspirations of a progressive nation.
In the twilight of a kingdom, the coronation of King Charles, a stage set to display the shimmering façade of liberty, while the UK government hastens its grip on the throat of protests