The Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi, a supporter of anti-government protests, has been sentenced to death. This cannot be allowed to happen. The world needs to show its outrage. www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/w...

Court in Iran Sentences Prominent Rapper to Death, His Lawyer Says

The rapper, Toomaj Salehi, was initially arrested after releasing music in support of the 2022 protests over the death of a young woman in police custody.

nytimes.com

I wrote about the 100th anniversary of Surrealism for CNN Style. Unlike other modernist movements of the early 20th century, it is still influencing artists today.

Celebrating a century of surrealism | CNN

From a steam train shooting out of a fireplace to the nude back of a woman transformed into a violin, the style still has the power to intrigue.

edition.cnn.com

My latest for Mind Trip on Multatuli's Max Havelaar, the Dutch novel that "killed colonialism." Please do subscribe!

Multatuli's Max Havelaar: the Dutch novel that "killed colonialism."

First published in 1860, Max Havelaar shone a light on the abuses of the Dutch Colonial system. But the motives of its author have sometimes been called into question.

mindtripculture.substack.com

"Though the pictures were uniformly pretty, making them was often ugly."

‘I got you an Oscar. Why do I need to pay you?’ The secret shocking truth about Merchant Ivory

They were the box-office titans behind sumptuous period masterpieces. Yet underneath, reveals a new warts-and-all film, they were skint, stressed, prone to blood-curdling bustups – and ping-ponging be...

theguardian.com

James Ensor mask chocolates. Yes, I ate their little screaming faces 😱

The latest issue of Mind Trip in which my co writer, Stephen Thomas, explores the poet Rimbaud's ultimately thwarted desire to leave the town of his birth, Charleville-Mézières.

Of Worms and Epitaphs: Arthur Rimbaud

The legendary French poet spent a lifetime trying to escape Charleville-Mézières, but the town of his birth has proved reluctant to let him go

mindtripculture.substack.com

The Bon Marchè epitomised the idea of a department store for the C19th French public & it was here that Zola came to undertake research for his novel Au Bonheur des Dames. Find out more in 'Émile Zola’s Au Bonheur des Dames & the transformation of 19th century Paris' in Mind Trip. Link in bio.

Mind Trip is a newsletter exploring cities and the wider world around us through culture. This is our Review Issue. You'll find a link in my bio. Please do consider subscribing!

Mind Trip is a newsletter exploring cities and the wider world around us through culture. You'll find a link in my bio. Please do subscribe!

Mind Trip is a newsletter exploring cites and the wider world around us through culture. You'll find a link in my bio. Please do consider subscribing!

Mind Trip's first newsletter. Link in bio. Please do consider subscribing!

At a time when the value of humanities subjects is being questioned, Mind Trip, the newsletter I have founded, aims to underline the intrinsic role culture plays in understanding the world around us. Please do consider subscribing. Link in bio.