by Inge Colijn The Brickfields of Dhaka, photo ©Erna Ingeborg Colijn, 2023 The catastrophic air pollution in Dhaka and the damaged topsoil in the surrounding agricultural lands is mainly due to the presence of brick factories. In 2019 the government started destroying many of the illegal facilities which, followed by…
Barrow-in-Furness
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5. THE BLACK HUTS
One of the Huts, photo Margaret Yip by Margaret Yip It is 1977, my children are eleven, ten, seven, six, and three. Elvis has died. His music has accompanied my life since the 50’s, especially his gospel records. My husband Martin arrives home from work at 2.30 pm one day…
Arun Kapil
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Can there be such a thing as an Indian restaurant?
Arun Kapil, the owner of Green Saffron Spices, photo Daragh McSweeney Indian Cooking: the Home, Street and Palace by Arun Kapil Can there be such a thing as an Indian restaurant? The whole Indian subcontinent, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, is so vast and its beautiful cuisine is so…
Arabian
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THE STORY OF MY COFFEE
Drinking coffee in Abu Dhabi, 2018 by Phil Hall I must have seen those small thick, white Lido hotel porcelain cups and smelled the rank contents long before I tasted the coffee inside them. The Lido is still there. On the road between Pretoria and Johannesburg. It was my grandfather’s…
Andy Hall
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ANDY HALL: NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL
© Andy Hall photographer Exhibition at the Tabernacle Centre W11 2AY Photographer Andy Hall dives into the fray with his camera, showing us scenes, moments and happenings on the streets of west London during Europe’s largest and most diverse annual urban open-air party known as the Notting Hill Carnival. I’ve…
Alfredo Perez Alencart
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Tebræ
Door in Mali, photo Leigh Voigt ISMAËL DIADIÉ HAÏDARA AND HIS EPIGRAMMATIC POETRY ISMAËL DIADIÉ HAÏDARA’s poems may speak of exile, but not in a predictable way that just invokes loss and sadness. He writes: “Exile is not sad. / Far from my home here is love, snow, the sea.” Tebrae is…
European Union
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NATO’S STRATEGIC DELUSIONS RISK WORLD WAR
The nuclear capable TU-160, Vitaly V. Kuzmin, Wikimedia Commons How many steps away are we from thermonuclear Armageddon? by James Tweedie, The war in Ukraine has now been raging for more than two years. While neither has published complete figures for its own casualties, methods such as monitoring online obituaries…
Fletcher Christian
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PITCAIRN’S SIX FORGOTTEN MEN
The Polynesian Men of His Majesty’s Army Vessel, BOUNTY by Glynn Christian The trials and the contributions to Pitcairn Island of the Polynesian women who sailed aboard HMAV BOUNTY with Fletcher Christian have at last been more fully recognised by writers and historians. A few decades ago, a sign at…
Personal experience
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PART 1: WHAT WAS THE USSR?
The Icebreaker Yamal, made in a Leningrad shipyard in 1986, photo Pink floyd88 A personal view by Philip Hall In the first place, anyone who has been involved in the struggle against colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism in Latin America, Africa and Asia and in the more neglected parts of Europe…
Julian Stannard
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TWO NEW POEMS BY JULIAN STANNARD
Tobleronia Looking out of the windowlooking at the snowmade you feel drowsy.The train trundled along.You dozed off.You were asleep for too long.You missed that little villageon the hillwith its glühwein and chocolate fruit.You missed the Toblerone factoryand the ornate clock.You missed the Kunst Halleand the Rathouse.The train crossed the Rhine,crossed…
A. F. Moritz
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TWO NEW POEMS BY A. F. MORITZ
When I Was a Child When I was a child it was clear the stones are alive. Plunging in tall grasses, almost lost to each other, we always were meeting them in the new trails each of us crushed, invisible to one another but near, calling out, smelling the faint…
Arctic
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TOILET HELL IN THE NORTHERN WASTES
by Jeremy Howe Jeremy Howe worked for major mining companies for thirty years and now lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. Below he tells a tale of waste disposal, unwilling drillers, and an explosive end. Do not read this piece while eating. Back in the…
AI
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AI JAMES
Ars Notoria introduces its new literary chatbot Perhaps “proud” is not the right word, but we at Ars Notoria might be proud (we think) to announce the introduction of an AI-generated Avatar designed to make us more money than the billionaires we despise. We’ve given it the title of “Satire and…
Barrow-in-Furness
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4. THE YIP FAMILY BOXING DAY
Margaret Yip in the 1970s by Margaret Yip It is 1974. Debts caught up with Martin up once again. We left Cardiff and returned to Barrow-in-Furness, where Martin found a job in a new paper factory. We rented one room in the centre of Barrow from the lady who owned…
Al Hilla
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MEMORIES OF OLD BABYLON
by Betty Hossaini Al-Hilla, ٱلْحِلَّة is only fifteen minutes away from Old Babylon. It is the capital of Babylon Province. When I was a child, I remember when they took me to Babylon. It was not like it looks like now, in modern times. Not at all! Babylon was a…
Afri Aysha
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WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR DEMOCRACY IN BANGLADESH?
Inauguration plaque of Dhaka Metro Rail photo by Mehdi Abedin, Wikicommons The 2024 elections are over in Bangladesh. What now? by Afri Aysha Bangladesh held parliamentary elections on 7th January 2024. The current Sangsad (parliament) was scheduled to expire on 29 January 2024. In order to guarantee that the election…
Education
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RAMBLIN’ PETE ON EDUKASHUN
by Pete Field I. In which I grumble about the Americans’ use of English in the education system – lack of trust at work Interesting factoid: apparently the USA has, overall, the same level of educational achievement as Mongolia, so why do we keep copying them? Does one Harvard or…
Geopolitics
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SAUDI ARABIA: FROM WESTERN SATRAPY TO INDEPENDENT NATION?
Ismael’s Jambia, photo Phil Hall by Phil Hall The Saudi monarchy, historically propped up by Western powers since its inception—first by the UK and later under U.S. influence—has long balanced between asserting autonomy and reliance on its imperial sponsors. Today, Saudi Arabia aspires to lead the Arab nations and be…
Art
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THE RIGHTS OF MAN & FISH
An introduction to The Rights of Man and Fish by Paul Halas History is bunk, to quote Henry Ford – which, of course, ignores the wider context of what he said, but then he wanted to sell us motor cars and probably wasn’t all that interested in the truth of…
Acorns
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APPLES FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE BOG
An old Rosemary Russet in Wisley Gardens , photo Phil Hall by Phil Hall Eating an apple is like drinking milk. Apples come from a living organism, a relative. The original apple was a fig. Our ancestors co-evolved with fig trees. We are a by-product of fig tree ecology—along with…
Doctor Pangloss
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PANGLOSSIAN DREAMS OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
John Singer Sargent | Joseph Jefferson as Dr. Pangloss | The Metropolitan Museum of Art PR is not a solution to the political impasse in the UK by Phil Hall There is no gimcrack technical electoral fix to the problem of inequality. When I was a teenager at school, I…
Barrow-in-Furness
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3. MARGARET & MARTIN
Martin Yip by Margaret Yip I met Martin in Whitehaven, where I worked for him. He was only 21. Martin had lots of energy. His restaurant was on three floors. The kitchen was in the basement. He could carry five or six plates in his left hand and on his arm…
Bangladesh
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THE ENDANGERED ALPHABETS PROJECT
Mandiac script, Carving by Tim Brookes, The Endangered Alphabets Project Writing Rights, Human Rights by Tim Brookes I had been researching, carving and speaking about endangered alphabets for a decade before it struck me that the few reference sources on the topic said nothing about why these Indigenous and minority…
1960s
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2. ISOBAL ALONE
Photo of Isobal with her son, Joseph By Margaret Yip I left school in 1964 at the age of 15. It was a Friday. I needed a job. By Monday, I had an interview which took place in my home. The wife of a housemaster at a private boys’ school…
Art
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EXHIBITION AMEN
by Zeek Fharkha Zeek Fharkha is an artist, musician, punk, with 2 masters and an honours degree. Fine arts, digital arts and an MBA. He is reading for a PhD at wits business school in Design thinking.
Afghanistan
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GOATS FOR THE PEOPLE OF PASHTUN ZARGHUN
By Inge Colijn During my 27 years of work for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I lived in many countries and they all became special to me. But some places like Afghanistan mean more. I was told at our headquarters in Geneva that people from abroad working in Afghanistan…
Art
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DANCING TO THE BEAT OF MY ART
Detail from Pure Bliss, Tasneem Shaikh Exhibiting at the World Art Fair in 2022 and 2023 by Tasneem Shaikh My heart races unusually fast. My joy has no bounds. For the first time, I am exhibiting my paintings at a major event, at World Art Dubai (WAD). It is March…
Angahuan
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SAINT JOHN OF THE RABBITS
Paricutín erupting, by Dr. Atl by Philip Hall I married into a large and regionally important Mexican family, and so got to know some parts of Mexico quite well. I lived there, first as a student at the university of Vera Cruz in the early eighties, later in Mexico City…
Aliens
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OPEN LETTER TO THE ALIENS
From July 12 to 29, 1952, a series of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings were reported in Washington, D.C. and later became known as the Washington flap You aliens are sociopaths – Interstellar Jeremy Clarksons by Phil Hall If you come to Earth, into our communities as a guest, then you must give an account of…
1950s
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1. ISOBAL & HENRY
Picture of Isobel and Joseph by Margaret Yip I was born in the middle of Clement Attlee’s term as prime minister in 1949. I was the fourth child born to my parents. My mother, Isobal, had been in service before marriage, and my father, Henry, was a miner. After my…
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