Joy Crookes says UK and Ireland in ‘dark time’ amid rise of far-right politics
The UK and Ireland are entering a “dark time”, according to the singer Joy Crookes, who said the influence of far-right ideology on mainstream politics was comparable to the 1970s when the National Front was at its peak,Crookes, who has just played two sold-out shows at the O2 Academy in Brixton, said the recent wave of nationalism and the far-right march through central London in September made her feel unsafe in the UK,“I’m not blind to the political kind of landscape that we’re living in right now and I myself am a child of immigrants,” she said,“I travelled to central London to go shopping and ran into a bunch of St George’s flags,It doesn’t make me feel safe.
”The singer said that when she was shooting her debut acting role in the coming-of-age story Ish, in Luton, the mostly black and brown crew and cast became worried after rumours of a Tommy Robinson rally in the town.“We were wondering on one of the days whether it was safe to go into work because we heard that there would be mass protests in Luton with Tommy Robinson and his mates,” she said.When asked if the current situation was comparable to the 1970s when the National Front regularly held marches in immigrant areas, she said: “In my opinion it’s completely comparable.It’s terrifying … I am really, really concerned.It feels like we are entering a dark time.
”Crookes’ Brixton performances went viral after a clip of her playing a cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s anti-racism anthem Black Boys on Mopeds surfaced online.O’Connor wrote the song after the deaths of Nicholas Bramble, who was killed while being pursued by the police on a moped they assumed he’d stolen, and Colin Roach, a black teenager who died under suspicious circumstances while inside Stoke Newington police station.The inside sleeve of O’Connor’s hit album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, which the song was on, also featured an image of Colin Roach’s parents protesting, alongside the caption: “God’s place is the world but the world is not God’s place.”While the song referenced police violence and racism, it also spoke to what O’Connor saw as the hypocrisy of political leaders, including Margaret Thatcher who was referenced in the song and had been accused of flirting with extreme-right rhetoric during her rise to power.While introducing the song on stage in Brixton, Crookes said: “I don’t want to sing this song, but 35 years ago, Sinead wrote this and it’s still relevant and I feel like it’s probably necessary.
”Crookes, who has Irish and Bangladeshi heritage, said the idea to play O’Connor’s song came after driving around Dublin with her cousins and seeing dozens of Irish tricolour flags, which are part of a nationalist, anti-immigrant movement.“I realised at that moment that this is an issue that’s happening in the west and it’s becoming more and more rife because of the big F, fascism, and the rise of the right,” she said.After the Dublin concert, where the song received an ovation, her team said she should play the song on every leg of her tour because it was “relevant everywhere in the UK”.Crookes said she was playing the song to encourage “solidarity” between communities directly affected by far-right rhetoric but also as a reminder to musicians to use their voices.“Maybe I’m singing that song as a small nod to my community to say we also have to take some responsibility and speak out,” she said.
“I think my peers are definitely willing to talk about Palestine but when it comes to the big R word [racism], it’s a bit scary.”
Why don’t Conservatives get credit for culture funding? | Letter
Helen Marriage, a hugely respected cultural leader, writes that “there is no political party that will commit to the kind of investment needed to keep a living art and culture ecology alive” (Durham’s Lumiere festival was a beacon of hope and togetherness – we cannot let the lights go out on the rest of the arts, 11 November). But she also places the responsibility on all of us. She wants the culture sector to make a better case. But can it?As commissioner for culture in the last government, I remain surprised that large funding decisions directed at culture have been forgotten, devalued and ignored, perhaps because the sources were then from a Conservative government.During Covid, culture was the only economic sector to receive its own rapid, specially designed, comprehensive rescue package
Jon Stewart on Trump’s Epstein files flip-flop: ‘This dude is flailing’
Late-night hosts tore into the next chapter of Donald Trump’s never-ending Jeffrey Epstein scandal.Jon Stewart ripped into Trump on Monday evening after the president abruptly changed tack and called on House Republicans to authorize the justice department’s release of files related to Epstein, a convicted sex offender – files which Trump himself could order to be released.“If he had nothing to hide, he could have declassified and released these files himself at any time,” the Daily Show host explained. “How do I know this? A legal expert named Donald Jurisprudence Trump said so.”Stewart then played footage of Trump from 2022 in which he insisted that the president can declassify anything, at any time, just by saying so or “even by thinking about it”
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David Nicholls to adapt The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ for BBC
A writing team led by the One Day author, David Nicholls, and that includes Caitlin Moran is bringing Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ to the small screen in a 10-part BBC One adaptation of the classic tale of teenage life in British suburbia.Nicholls, who described the book as “a classic piece of comic writing and an incredible piece of ventriloquism on Sue Townsend’s part”, will adapt the book that produced one of the best-known literary creations of the 1980s.Known for Mole’s comically dramatic assessments of his life in a Midlands cul-de-sac – “I feel like a character in a Russian novel half the time” – the book sold 20m copies worldwide and was translated into 30 languages.The BBC said: “With only a multi-coloured ballpoint pen as his guide, Adrian worries about his spots, his parents’ divorce, the torment of first love and the fact he’s never seen a female nipple.”None of the cast has been revealed, and producers say “a nationwide … search is currently underway to find Adrian”
‘People still blame me for their perforated eardrums’: how we made the Tango ads
‘Gil Scott-Heron did the closing voiceover. He was giggling away, saying, “You English guys are crazy!”’My creative partner Al Young and I had been on the dole for 18 months when we landed our dream jobs at Howell Henry ad agency. We had to prove ourselves fast. Tango’s brief was basically to get talked about. They told us: “We want Coca-Cola to be afraid of this little British brand
Memoirs, myths and Midnight’s Children: Salman Rushdie’s 10 best books – ranked!
As the author publishes a new story collection, we rate the work that made his name – from his dazzling Booker winner to an account of the 2022 attack that nearly killed him “It makes me want to hide behind the furniture,” Rushdie now says of his debut. It’s a science fiction story, more or less, but also indicative of the sort of writer Rushdie would become: garrulous, playful, energetic. The tale of an immortal Indian who travels to a mysterious island, it’s messy but charming, and the sense of writing as performance is already here. (Rushdie’s first choice of career was acting, and he honed his skill in snappy lines when working in an advertising agency.) Not a great book, but one that shows a great writer finding his voice, and a fascinating beginning to a stellar career
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