There is a pervasive sense of societal fracture these days. Politics has become defined by dramatic narratives of battle between the Greens and Reform UK based on story rather than rooted in reality. Culture seems increasingly guided by a furious rejection of tradition, establishment, and imperialist pasts, or a righteous confabulated nostalgia for them. Compare Kneecap with a far-right AI generated rapper , or indeed the culture of the Oscars with the culture of “Looksmaxxi

‘In a digital era, entertainment often becomes collective memory. Real names are not fictional tools. They belong to real lives.’ – that was Daryl Hannah in an essay written in the New York Times last week, responding to Ryan Murphy’s characterisation of her in his new show ‘Love Story’, which follows the life and death of Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Junior. Hannah , who gained worldwide attention from her role in the 1982 film ‘Blade Runner’, dated JFK Jr. o

Last week, India’s Supreme Court rejected a repeat petition for 2-3 days of monthly menstrual leave for female workers and students. Lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi had previously filed it in February 2023 and July 2024, and the most recent rejection was filed by Justices Surya Kant and Joymala Bagchi. They had based their decision on the assumption that, if menstrual leave was put into effect, women would face increased barriers in the workplace. Kant stated that women who

I was driving in the suburban Newtownabbey area just north of Belfast recently. I went up past the Ballyduff estate, on my way to Larne or Carnlough, I forget. My attention was drawn to some flags on lampposts, at a crossroads, which I didn’t recognise. I have learnt to tune out the various assortment of flags. The Union Jack, The Ulster Banner, Orange Order flags, flute band flags, State of Israel, or even Danish flags. However, this flag drew my attention. They were four br

Following in the footsteps of the Australian government, the UK government recently released its research briefing proposing a ban on social media for children. The report identifies the rationale behind such a ban, citing obvious harms such as exposure to child sexual abuse images, pornography, sexual content, cyberbullying, self-harm, and violent material. It is perhaps surprising that it is only in 2025 that we are beginning to see meaningful legislation that actually reg

Lying recumbent and wrecked, roughly 130 kilometres to the North of the glittering Saudi city of Medina, rests the rusted hull of a century-old Ottoman locomotive. Targeted by British Intelligence Officer T. E. Lawrence and future King Faisal I of Iraq’s small cadre of Arab fighters, the sun-baked cadaver exists as a relic of the First World War guerrilla campaign that buckled the formidable Ottoman Empire’s control over the Hejaz, turning the tide of the theatre’s conflict,

Over the past few months, Westminster has been gripped by an all too familiar kind of speculation. It concerns the election that will decide this country’s next Prime Minister. An election that most voters will not participate in, a potential Labour leadership contest. Murmurings within the Parliamentary Labour Party suggest that should the party perform poorly in May’s local and regional elections, pressure on Keir Starmer will intensify. Anonymous briefings have become a lo

Last month, the BBC reported on a growing cluster of Instagram accounts posting AI-generated images and videos of women with disabilities – including Down’s syndrome, amputations and even fabricated “conjoined twins” – in highly sexualised scenarios designed to attract followers and direct traffic toward monetised adult platforms. At first glance, these profiles might appear to be little more than another grotesque curiosity of the internet. Yet the phenomenon points toward

International law was created to act as a check on unrestrained power, yet in practice is only effective at controlling states who are willing to conform, leaving those states whom international law was intended to control practically untouched by it. Out of the ruins of the Second World War came the concept of enforceable international law, followed by the creation of the United Nations and the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . International law promise

19 th Century Methods for 21 st Century Problems Following the abduction of Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, combined with the National Security Strategy (NSS) release in December of 2025, the Trump Era of “Gunboat Diplomacy” consolidated as the world watched on with morose horror. The Trump “Corollary,” as it were, is to represent an abandonment of international good faith and an embracing of the world's brutal dictators, Vladimir Putin and many more across th

The Labour government has been cast further adrift this month, perilously overladen with scandal and factionalism. Whilst I don’t doubt that Starmer will go down with this ship, certain members of his cabinet could survive unscathed, and miraculously so. Certain names and policies scattering the headlines are doing an impressive job of diverting attention away from more subdued and insidious acts of party betrayal. Take Shabana Mahmood, the UK’s Home Secretary, whose vision f

‘For any government official or despot, power over his own people takes precedence over everything else’- Jean Baudrillard In Terry Gilliam’s Kafkaesque black comedy Brazil (1985), Sam Lowry, a low-ranking bureaucrat, joins his affluent, ostentatious mother, Ida, in a restaurant. Their meal is served - at which point - sudden explosions blast shrapnel across the room, saturating the air with shouting, screams, and smoke. The restaurant has been subject to a terrorist attack

James Talarico calls his healthcare plan “Medicare for Y’all”. Four words that tell you everything about how he just won the Democratic Senate primary in Texas – his party hasn't won statewide here since 1994. Whilst his opponent campaigned against Trump, Talarico, the seminarian state legislator and former public school teacher, ran for something: popular progressive policies rebranded to the voters he will need to win over. Whether he manages that in November is another que

Recent weeks have seen alarming headlines suggest that the UK risks serious strife due to limited food production capacity, thereby touching on something that makes the public feel vulnerable at a visceral level – literally something we will feel in our gut: the chance we might not have food tomorrow. But this is not a recent risk, nor the result of a particular policy programme. It is a core piece of the UK’s strategic security puzzle, composed of challenges that cannot b

In my capacities as Deputy Chair of Warwick Labour (a title I’m getting the most out of now, set to lose it as I am in the next week or so), I get to regularly engage with many an interesting Labour figure. It is, therefore, a testament to Mainstream’s National Coordinator, Luke Hurst, that I’ve penned an article inspired by a compelling talk he recently gave. Before getting to the crux of the issue, it has to be said that Hurst was a courteous and captivating speaker, and t

The prolonged war in Yemen, which has been locked in a stalemate for a decade, has now entered a new stage. The Southern Transitional Council (STC), supported by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a major player in the war in Yemen, was able to successfully penetrate the regions of Hadhramaut and Al Mahra , effectively controlling the official borders of the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) – South Yemen. The STC has been the sole representative of the souther

Perhaps the most renowned passage of Thomas Carlyle’s On Heroes, Hero-Worship & The Heroic in History opens with the decree that ‘a man’s religion is the chief fact with regard to him’, a proposition through which Carlyle elucidates how an individual’s true faith often lies outwith their professed church creed. Separate from the divine teachings of any sect, Carlyle instead argued that an individual’s true religious persuasion lies in the set of core beliefs which they hold

For the past six months, Westminster has been swirling with rumours that the Prime Minister’s days are numbered. Commentators have been split as to whether the Prime Minister would be challenged following the local elections in May, or before that, but they seem pretty certain that he will be challenged . The Prime Minister himself has appeared in the media stating that he will be Prime Minister by the end of 2026 . Critics both within the Labour Party and the media have pinn

I am not a fast, nor an avid, reader of books. The news and social media sure. TV, films, music, audio books, podcasts, YouTube videos; all are seductively unchallenging compared to sitting down and reading a book. Some are blessed with more awe-inspiring bibliographic curiosities: my friend Lydia read 115 books last year, so I asked her why she likes reading. She told me that she ‘likes learning about difference experiences of the world’, that ‘it feels like a solid routine

Three years on from a sweeping victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election, Polanski becomes Prime Minister, presiding over an undefeatable Green Party majority in the House of Commons. The people of Britain feel hope and vindication after prolonged stagnation. It is day one in a new era of prosperity and peace. The UK will begin healing, and all will dance happily around a maypole. This is more-or-less the presented vision of Polanski’s Green Party in 2026. It is a kind an