4th May 2022
As bans on so-called “divisive” books increase in the United States, Patrick Gaffey explores the censorship of books throughout history and why we should fight it. In 1922, James Joyce published his book Ulysses, after showcasing segments in literary journals for four years. Ulysses, the story of Dublin advertiser Leopold Bloom, is today recognised by ...
6th April 2022
Patrick reviews the latest reimagining of Frank Kafka’s allegorical novella, as theatre group Vanishing Point take its tricky-to-adapt narrative and rework it for the stage. Franz Kafka spent almost his entire life in Prague’s small Jewish district, which he called “my prison cell – my fortress”. Despite a successful career as an insurance clerk, he ...
25th March 2022
Patrick praises the quirky, albeit violent, comedy action flick from young Japanese director Yûgo Sakamoto. Yûgo Sakamoto’s Baby Assassins is a masterpiece of modern Japanese cinema, telling the story of two teenage girls who balance their everyday lives with a secret career as hitmen. Although it was shown as part of the Glasgow Film Festival’s ...
24th March 2022
Patrick concludes that this Italian drama has more of the essence of a histrionic serial than a well-proportioned domestic art house piece. Content warning: Sexual assault Nanni Moretti’s film Tre Piani is graced by brilliant direction, beautiful scenery, and fantastic acting. Unfortunately, none of these combined strengths are quite able to poultice its plot, which ...
18th March 2022
Patrick Gaffey reviews the captivatingly distinctive play. Last February saw the Scottish debut of the exciting comic play The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much at Greenock’s Beacon Arts Theatre. Performed by the Voloz Collective, a theatrical group trained in the style of Parisian practitioner Jacques Lecoq, it tells the story of Roger Clement, ...
13th March 2022
Patrick dives into the Irish-language cinema taking centre stage at GFF ‘22 with Colm Bairéad’s intimate coming of age drama. In a fascinating interview with the television station TG4, the seminal Irish writer Máirtín Ó Cadhain discussed what would happen if the tradition of Irish-language literature died out. He predicted the corrosive effect it would ...
27th February 2022
The University of Glasgow has been awarded the inaugural Turing Network and Development Award. The University of Glasgow was one of twenty-four universities to win the inaugural Network Development Award. This award, presented by the Alan Turing Institute, “recognises the University’s commitment to collaborative and creative research in data science and artificial intelligence”, and is ...
16th February 2022
Patrick Gaffey outlines the real danger posed by climate change to so many species following a trip to the Hunterian Museum. It’s no secret that the climate emergency places the natural world in a dire situation. A recent study found that it has put one third of all plant and animal life at risk of ...
15th February 2022
Artistic director Erica Whyman speaks up on the racist comments after the performance’s cast was announced. The Royal Shakespeare Company’s upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing, the bard’s classic comedy of love and divided loyalties, will take on an Afrofuturist style, and star an all-black cast. This has led to some backlash, and comments ...
9th February 2022
It’s no secret that the Labour Party is in a state of crisis, losing support in almost every area it could once call home. The Keir Starmer leadership seems less interested in tackling the Tories than in forcing out any young, left-wing, or working-class members within their ranks. An estimated 200,000 people have left the ...
