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THAT WAS HUGO BLYTHE MP

OSCAR: THE SECOND COMING

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THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND FISH
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Legalising Euthanasia Under Capitalism Is Mass Murder
The legalisation of euthanasia under capitalism is not an act of compassion. It is a logical extension of a system that values profit over human life, death instead of care. Image X A Humane Socialist View I do not like thee, Doctor Fell, The reason why, I cannot tell; But this I know, and…
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MARCH ISSUE
Close up of Hari, Solaris. Screen capture Mosfilm, Fair Use It leaves you almost speechless. Certainly readers have been bombarded. Every article, interview, story, every exhibition of paintings is worthy of being examined with close attention. In particular, we had wonderful contributions from the Art Editor, Paul Halas; the Food Editor, Arun Kapil; the…
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New Malden Writers in March
Photograph by Pixabay The New Malden Writers’ Group was set up in 2023. If you want to join, come along to Wesley’s Café at the Methodist Church in New Malden on Fridays at 11am. The group meets for two hours. We take it in turns to read things to each other and share our thoughts.…
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Óscar de la Borbolla: Notes on Language
Óscar de la Borbolla. Courtesy of Óscar de la Borbolla Óscar de la Borbolla, writer and philosopher, was born in Mexico City in 1949, although, as the poet Fargue said: he has dreamed so much! He has dreamed so much that he no longer belongs here. Among his notable books are: Las vocales malditas (The Accursed…
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Two Short Stories by Beatriz Escalante
Beatriz Escalante. Photograph courtesy of Beatriz Escalante We are delighted to present two captivating short stories by the acclaimed Mexican writer, Beatriz Escalante. A prolific author of over thirty books, Escalante’s work has been recognised and celebrated internationally. Noteworthy books include: Fábula de la inmortalidad and Cómo ser mujer y no vivir en el infierno. They have been…
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Ecological Destruction is Class War
The Jevons Paradox from Gaia, Sixth Extinction Series by Gordon Lidl The Jevons Paradox, Marx, the Modern Left, Deep Greens, AI and Collapse. by Gordon Lidl I want to tell you a story about a painting, a large painting I finished two years ago as part of a series of works called Gaia, Sixth…
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7. Never Again!
by David Yip At home, my younger sister, Diane, is working in Leeds and spends a lot of time there, staying in hotels. She tells me that she will be moving there as it makes more sense, but she needs to sell her houses. She asks if I will buy the one I live…
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ANANYA VAJPEYI
Ananya Vajpeyi. Original photograph Gautam Menon From Place: Intimate Encounters with Cities Ananya Vajpeyi is a Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi. An intellectual historian, political theorist and writer, she was educated in Delhi, Oxford, and Chicago. Her book, Righteous Republic: The Political Foundations of Modern India, won…
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Geo Milev: PROSE POEMS
Bulgarian poet Geo Milev (1895-1925). Photographer unknown Introduced & Translated from the Bulgarian into English by Tom Phillips Geo Milev (1895-1925) was a poet, translator, critic, editor and activist who introduced a radical modernist strain into Bulgarian literature. Equally radical in his politics, he was extra-judicially executed during a round-up of communist and anarchist revolutionaries that…
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Beena Kamlani: Excerpt from The English Problem
Beena Kamlani. Photograph Beena Kalmani Beena Kamlani’s debut novel, The English Problem, was published in January 2025 in the U.S. by Penguin Random House and launched in India at the Jaipur Literary Festival in January 2026. The Indian edition has just come out from The Bombay Circle Press. Her short stories have appeared in…
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A Letter to the Apolitical You, Rudi
Đorđe Andrejević Kun – Pasionaria speaks to the fighters before going to the front. Wikimedia Commons A response to a friend’s remark that ‘Lots of people have an aversion to politics.’ By Phil Hall First, we need to define the word politics. It is a set of activities associated with making decisions in groups, realised…
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In Translation: TWO of Ewa Lipska’s FURTEEN TALES
Illustration ©Sebastian Kudas Ewa Lipska (b. 1945) is one of Poland’s most eminent poets, a defining voice of the Polish New Wave (Generation of ’68) since her debut in 1967. Her work, translated into over a dozen languages including English, has earned her international stature and numerous awards, among them the Silesius Poetry Prize…
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The Racial Resentment of the White Caliban
President Lyndon B. Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on July 2, 1964. Photograph Cecil Stoughton, White House Press Office. Public Domain As wicked dew as e’er my mother brush’dWith raven’s feather from unwholesome fenDrop on you both! a south-west blow on yeAnd blister you all o’er! Caliban, The Tempest by Dustin Pickering Speaking to far-right…
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Gustavo Gac-Artigas in Translation
Gustavo and Priscilla Gac-Artigas. Credit Priscilla Gac-Artigas Born in Santiago de Chile in 1944, Gustavo Gac-Artigas is a Chilean poet, novelist, playwright, and former political prisoner whose writing has long engaged with questions of memory, exile, testimony, and the ethical responsibilities involved in using language. Following the 1973 military coup, Gac-Artigas was imprisoned and…
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16. Little Tramp / Rich Man
Charles Chaplain as a young man Charlie Chaplin & Stan Laurel Norman B. Schwartz In September 1910, one of England’s most popular Music Hall acts, Fred Karno Company of Clowns, set off by ship to begin a scheduled tour of North America that would last twenty-one months. On board, there were two teenage knockabout…
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Solaris and the Loving Sky
Hari leans over to kiss Kris Kelvin. Screen Capture Mosfilm Fair Use by Phil Hall After Jules Verne, H. P. Lovecraft, Jack London, and H. G. Wells came huge advances in science and two horrifying world wars that exceeded all imagination in technology, horror, and human beastliness. In the post-war crop of speculative science…
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A Critique of Noam Chomsky’s Work
Noam Chomsky. Photograph April 1961 The Technology Review, MIT, Wikimedia Commons In both areas, linguistics and politics, Chomsky’s foundational hypotheses were inadequate. by Phil Hall My perspective on Noam Chomsky is informed by my background: a life lived across multiple countries and languages, an academic grounding in Russian and Spanish politics, economics, and literature,…
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Excerpt: That Was Hugo Blythe MP
That Was Hugo Blythe MP, cover art credit Phil Hall a novel by Peter Cowlam, published by AN Editions That Was Hugo Blythe MP is the memoir, in diary form, of government researcher Alaric Casteele. It is set in a vaguely determined period in the early 2000s at the height of the New Labour…
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Horsemen of the Steppes
Mongolian Nomads Hold on to their Way of Life by Andy Hall the herdsmen would all have a spare horse tethered to the horse he was riding © Andy Hall The steppes were every bit as beautiful as I just imagined them to be. Very soft on the eye. Soft and gentle. A harsh landscape…
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Ukraine’s Right to Self-determination
Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, photo Falin, Wikimedia Commons 1.5 Million Ukrainians Haven’t Died for NATO by Phil Hall While NATO has undoubtedly used Ukraine as a geopolitical proxy, and far-right elements have played disproportionate roles in the military, these facts cannot negate Ukraine’s fundamental right to self-determination. When I went to Kyiv to study in the…
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Where’s the Jeopardy, Chef?
Pan de Muerto photo by Leslie Torres on Pexels.com From Cantaloupe Island to Pan de Muerto, by way of Pollo Adobado and a Manchego and Chipotle Sandwich by Phil Hall My brother Andy and I once made a pitch for a TV programme to some young Channel 4 producers. We arranged a meeting with…
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What’s Missing From Our Kitchens?
The Flame, photo Arun Kapil at Cork Pop-up Just gimme some truth! by Arun Kapil – founder of Green Saffron & defender of 10-minute magic It used to start with a sound. A sizzle. The hiss of butter hitting heat, or onions tumbling into oil. Not just aroma but evidence – that someone was…
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Have a little more respect for Sigmund Freud!
Professor Sigmund Freud, photo Max Halberstadt The less seriously we take Freud, the more they like it by Phil Hall Sigmund Freud, the neurologist who founded psychoanalysis and treated psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst, revolutionised our understanding of the human mind. He believed that a lot of human behaviour was…
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CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
‘Blowing bubbles distracts these children from the war poster behind them.‘ Front page of the Tanzania Standard, June 1971. Dar-es-Salaam 1971-72 by Philip Hall At twelve, I was bespectacled and precocious and political, living with my family in Upanga, Dar-es-Salaam. A towering kungu tree stood outside our house. It was 1971–72, and my parents…
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Lamu to Pemba by Dhow
Photo by Gavin Rain on Pexels.com by Phil Hall . The dhow tacks from side to side while its squatting boatmen take big swings at getting us to our destination. And the sailors sit and chat as miss the quay twice and chew quat. After a journey across open sea they manage to get…








































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