VANGUARD ONLINE POLITICS & CULTURE ARCHIVE

This is an archive of articles on politics and culture appearing in Vanguard Online as of 1996. Please click here for archives on Music.

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Architecture Broadgate Tower, London, Peckham Library...	Art & Photography Shoreditch Street Art, Sheffield is Rubbish...	...
Capitalism The Unofficial History of America TM, IMF's Four Steps to Damnation, Could the Robin Hood Tax Really Give to the Poor?...	Consumerism Consumerism: the socially excluding mindstate, The Rise and Rise of the Cafe Bar,	Democracy Why Doesn't the Government Respond to the Participating Public? ...
Demonstrations Seattle, J18 Don't let the violence divide us., Genoa what you're fighting for?...	Diet The Great Fallacies of Vegetarianism...	Environment Whose Environment BMW?...
Experience A Viewpoint on Depression, John Peel on Dying, The Experience of Drug Addiction...	Film The Ugly Side of the American Beauty, What do we understand by a classic film?...	Foreign Policy British Genocide in Diego Garcia, The Challenge Facing the United Nations, Pipelinistan,
Globalisation The Rise of the Three Super Languages...	Identity In Favour of the Golden Jubilee...	Israel The West Bank: a first hand account, Refuseniks, Yesh Gvul...
Music Towards a theory of hip-hop...	Novels Buddha of Suburbia, Brighton Rock, Middlemarch...	Philosophy 2000 Blueprint for Living...
Public Space Public nudity, Psychology and Begging...	Sport Hillsborough: ten years on, Football, glory and tears...	Taiwan Introduction to Taiwan...
Television What's So Real About Reality Television?...	Travel Taiwan, Israeli security, Bosnia...	Venezuela En Guerra Contra Los Estados Unidos...

Architecture [back to the top]

Broadgate Tower, London

The City, creating and then pushing into bohemia. 2008

Peckham Library, London Everything in Peckham Library is designed to surprise. Whilst you can see common themes and patterns, everything is a variation, there’s little that is standard 2008

Art & Photography [back to the top]

Shoreditch Street Art, London Celebrating the open air art gallery that is Shoreditch Street Art. 2007

Sheffield is Rubbish Containment and no containment - photography from Ramon Pons. 2006

Hyde Park 2007 Photos of Hyde Park in Autumn 2007. 2007

Capitalism [back to the top]

Looks Like Alot of Suckers Gotta Learn the Hard Way capitalism has a vicious edge to it as the inequalities that result from it reduce the life chances of certain people (the poor). However it also provides the poor with a living. November 1999

The Paradigm of Money Kono Matsu gives the neophyte bioeconomist a grounding in the history and impact of the current money paradigm. November 1999

The Unofficial History of America TM Kalle Lasn on why a nineteenth century legal dispute over a railbed route in the US revolutionised both the States and the world as coporatism asserted itself. April 2000

What the Fuck is the WTO Anyway? A Question and Answer on the World Trade Organisation, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and activism. May 2000

IMF's Four Steps to Damnation Gregory Pallast on how crises, failures, and suffering finally drove a Presidential adviser to the wrong side of the barricades. September 2001

After the Fall The strategy of the government of President de la Rua was to revive the sinking economy by re-attracting IMF credits and foreign capital. To appease the IMF and Wall Street, it chose to remain with a policy triad that had ceased to make sense. January 2002

Eyes Only Memo Shows Who Done It The economy had been murdered in cold blood. Who done it? The killers left fingerprints all over the warm corpse. May 2002

Could the Robin Hood Tax Really Give to the Poor Ben Garside investigates the pros and cons of the Tobin tax which is receiving increasing interest in countries such as Belgium, Canada and France. August 2002

Why we're not allowed to talk about Manning the Borders: Multiculturalism as a form of Censorship April 2005

Why is the Spanish capital surrounded by several suburban ghost towns? January 2011

Consumerism [back to the top]

Consumerism: The Socially Excluding Mindstate Mike Williams argues that social exclusion if it is anything, is something we do to ourselves. 1998

The Rise and Rise of the Cafe Bar Richard Berry tracks the insidious evolution of the café bar and asks whether it's the end for the good old pub and more interestingly the traditional English drinking culture? December 1999

Democracy [back to the top]

Why Doesn't the Government Respond to the Participating Public? Mike Williams on why the British government's investment in public participatory intiatives have not resulted in a more responsive or citizen-centred state. January 2003

Public Participation in the United Kingdom: Two Models for Increasing Public Power Mike Williams outlines two models of public participation. Both aim to deepen the influence of local participating citizens on decision-making processes. March 2004

Politicians Are All The Same! How apathetic Britain is paving the way for a new fascist state. April 2005

Demonstrations [back to the top]

Carnival Against Capitalism John Barker recounts the recent Carnival Against Capitalism which took place in London in June… November 1999

Seattle Demonstrators report on the riots in Seattle. March 2000

Give Up Activism Reflecting on the June 1999 riots in London, Andrew X questions whether a 'revolution' will ever happen while there are still activists. September 2000

J18! Reflecting on the June 1999 riots in London, an un-named ponders the lessons for future protest. October 2000

J18! Keep it Up, Don't Let the Violence Divide Us An un-named protestor considers some of the lessons learned from the organisation and execution of the WTO protests in London in June 1999. November 2000

Direct Action In time for July 4th, a motley crowd of Greenpeace protesters took over several parts of a Yorkshire radar base which has for a good many years has been an important link in the chain of American spy bases spanning the world. This has lead John Roberts to ask the question when is direct action justified? August 2001

Genoa What You're Fighting For? If violent protests succeed, a frightened populace will not turn to reform, but to repression of anarchists and anyone else who deals in terror. September 2001

Threats to Liberty John Roberts argues that the determination of individuals to defy governments is, finally, the only safeguard against any threat to liberty. October 2001

Trident on Trial Not content with sabotaging British Aerospace jet fighters the ploughshare women have recently gutted a Trident Nuclear Missile support ship. November 2001

Diet [back to the top]

The Great Fallacies of Vegetarianism Craig Fitzroy on why it isn't such a good idea to be a vegatarian. May 2000

Environment [back to the top]

Whose Environment BMW? Exhaust emissions. CFCs and air-conditioning. Landfills. Certainly reasons enough to come up with environmentally-friendly cars, so BMW did just that. And then they considered the pollution problem from an unusual angle. The driver's. February 2000

Experience [back to the top]

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now: So Leave Me Alone and Fuck Off! Depression, a personal viewpoint by Shaun Doane. May 2001

John Peel on Dying December 2002

Scotty I couldn't watch Trainspotting, it was too familiar, I got flashbacks of what it was like. You know with that woman spaced out on the floor in a dingy room while her baby cried and that in the background. I've been in a situation like that before December 2003

Film [back to the top]

The Ugly Side of the American Beauty Wiliam Simcox on immorality in film-making. May 2000

L'évolution du cinéma français Mike Williams raconte l'évolution du cinéma français. January 2003

What Do We Understand By a 'Classic Film'? June 2003

Parisian Cinematic Counterculture Thirty years ago, one man set out with a vision to use cinema to transform derelict and abandoned areas of working class Paris. His experience of growing up a Jew in wartime Europe and his rejection at the hands of the French cinematic distribution networks encouraged him to establish a parallel cinematic industry. December 2005

Foreign Policy [back to the top]

British Genocide in Diego Garcia In the 1960s the islanders of the Diego Garcia were raped by the British Government…Why? John Roberts reports… December 2000

Triumphant Terrorism The devotion to and worship of power so apparent in decades of building 'overkill' for the American military is a lesson to the terrorists of the need for violence which they learn only too well. September 2001

Nemesis If a state erects the largest building in the world in order to direct a military capacity primed to destroy the entire human race many times over, it is a little disingenuous to cry 'foul' when it is attacked. John Roberts on the destruction of the Pentagon. September 2001

The Challenge Facing the United Nations If a state erects the largest building in the world in order to direct a military capacity primed to destroy the entire human race many times over, it is a little disingenuous to cry 'foul' when it is attacked. John Roberts on the destruction of the Pentagon. September 2001

Self-Defence Why The Recent Attacks On Afghanistan Break International Law November 2001

A Tale of Two Cities As the big American airplane approached on that shining morning nothing untoward was expected. The nefarious preparations for sudden destruction had been long, thorough and secret, on a scale unparalleled in the history of terror. November 2001

Orphans of the Cold War Learn the Limits of Freedom in Nicaragua's Elections November 2001

La France Et La Protection De La Culture Francaise L'haine pour la culture americaine est pris à un extrème redicule avec le rejet sur les americaines en forme a McDonalds, la responsabilité de l'obésité en France. Bien sur l'alimentation du McDonalds n'est pas bon pour le pourtant, mais personne ne fais les francais la manger. May 2002

Afghanistan One Year On September 2002

Pipelineistan October 2002

911 Poetry October 2002

The Fight Against Al-Jazeera December 2005

Globalisation [back to the top]

Is Utopia Just Around the Corner? Mike Williams explores new ways of thinking and doing things presented in Ankie Hoogvelt's new book Globalisation and the Postcolonial world.September 1998

Their Loss Is Our Loss John Roberts bemoans the loss of so many languages and the rise of the three super languages: English, Spanish and Chinese. September 2000

Identity [back to the top]

In Favour of the Golden Jubilee Andy Savage elects for silliness over boredom… June 2001

La Corse Votre Hebdo Newspaper reporting on the dominant white tribe in Corscica… March 2005

Israel [back to the top]

Terror v Terror It is interesting to reflect on the unfortunate irony that the lessons of the Nazis persecution of the Jews have been well learnt… the views about the Arabs expressed by many Jews interviewed bear striking resemblances to the racial intolerance evinced by fascist regimes. November 2001

The West Bank: a First Hand Account May 2002

Refuseniks Clarity of conscience causes some Israeli soldiers to refuse service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip October 2002

Yesh Gvul Information about Yesh Gvul - an Israeli peace group that has shouldered the task of supporting soldiers who refuse assignments of a repressive or aggressive nature. November 2002

Music [back to the top]

The Music Review Iu Garcia and Mike Williams discuss the practice in relation to the latest album from Garbage. September 1998

Psychoanalysis: Kiss Me Quick Thomas Patmoore reviews the present state of British Hip Hop and links it's progress to the FTSE index! August 1999

The History of Warp Records From 1989-1999. Ten Years of Warp Records. September 1999

"And So This Is Christmas?" Graeme Demianyk on the greatest Christmas records of all time… December 2000

Resolution @ Ally Pally Ruth Collins celebrates New Years Eve at Ally Pally. January 2001

UK Hip Hop Makin Some Noise November 2001

Towards a Theory of Hip-Hop Hip-Hop, perhaps like all cultures, is defined by it's internal contradictions. It is, arguably, these contradictions which keep a culture alive, pushing it forward in response to, and developing, the internal conversation between contending elements. February 2002

Hip-Hop Culture and African-American Urban Aesthetics February 2002

Elektro-Funk: What did it all mean? Electro-Funk is undoubtedly the most misunderstood of all UK Dance genres, yet probably the most vital with regards to its overall influence. November 2002

Social Pattern in the Consumption of Music A Critique of the Predominant Academic Approaches December 2002

La Piratería de música December 2002

Glastonbury on the Skids? May 2005

The Best and Worst Cover Versions September 2005

Novels [back to the top]

Nick Hornby: High Fidelity December 1998

Hanif Kureshi: Buddha of Suburbia January 1999

Graham Green: Brighton Rock February 1999

George Elliot: Middlemarch March 1999

Hanif Kureshi: The Black Album October 1999

Charlotte Bronte: Villette November 1999

Philosophy [back to the top]

Death - why are we afraid of it? Why are we so afraid of something that we've never even experienced? December 1998

2000 Blueprint for Living Appropriate 2000. 2000 as a moment of true liberation. 2000 as a catalyst driving you to a higher state of being. January 2000

Neither God Nor Man Mark Ryan on how churhces are being bought down to earth. March 2000

Plagiarism and Why You Should Use It Luther Blisset gives us the low down. May 2000

Where Does a Soul Go? Engagement or Drop-Out? Violence or Resistance? October 2000

The Revolution of Love Political equality and true love are two aspects of the same revolutionary key argues Mike Williams January 2001

The Word According to Matt Johnson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau The The's 'The Dusk' is used by Mike Williams to portray Matt Johnson's agreement with Jean Jacques Rousseau on the path to happiness. December 2003

Science Becoming or Becoming Science: The Relationship Between Science and Political Goals December 2003

Public Space [back to the top]

The Naked Truth Is there really anything that wrong with public nudity? January 1999

The Big Issue About the Big Issue Are Big Issue vendors contributing to society or are they just gentrified beggars? Mike Williams gives his opinion… March 1999

Are You Wise to the Street? Homelessness is a complicated issue…Mike Williams doesn't have all the answers but he thinks we should take more time to try and understand it… November 1999

A Guerilla Art Attack Hits Stockholm Rasmus Malm on semiotic guerrilla warfare: the idea that public space belongs to public expression. August 2000

Weapons, Statues and Museum Collections in Iraq December 2003

Sport [back to the top]

Boxettes Mike Williams on why women's boxing is making men put on their gloves . June 1998

The Future of Football Mike Williams argues that football has become a stage for the exhibition of nationalism and looks at the consequences for the beautiful game… June 1998

Three Asses on a Shirt Mosquito bemoans the mad, mad, mad, sad world of football. June 1998

Hillsborough - Ten Years On With the denizens of Liverpool being a hyper sensitive lot when the subject of Hillsborough is made, the politically correct thing to do nowadays is to blame the disaster either on the police (the supposed source of all evil in our society) or no-one. Bucking this trend, Guernica gives a compelling account for why Liverpool's fans must take a substantial share of the blame. May 1999

Championes! Guernica gives a fascinating fan's eye view of Manchester United's Champions Cup victory. Knocked off inter-rail passes, vodka and oranges on the beach, topless babes and the memory of Matt Busby… May 1999

The Jewel in the Trash In the new era of 'sports entertainment' Imran Ahmed argues that WWF is more than just muscle, steroids and play acting: there's the Redneck psyche to fight for… May 1999

Football, Glory and Tears Celebrate England's 5-1 victory over the Germans with Tessa Tosterone. September 2001

A Fan's Eye View of the Beautiful Game: Scunthorpe United When a goal goes in - hot steaming gold runs through your veins - you become invincible for as long as the feeling lasts. January 2009

Taiwan [back to the top]

Introduction to Taiwan August 1999

Taiwan - A People Cast Adrift The struggle for an autonomous identity... 2006

Television [back to the top]

What's So Real About Reality Television? September 2005

Travel [back to the top]

Broader Horizones, Wider Minds What's wrong with 'risky' foreign travel? asks Lyn Hughes, editor of Wanderlust magazine October 1999

Photographs from Taiwan Mike Williams reports on a month touring Taiwan. March 2000

Stripping Off in Israel Security is a big issue in Israel as Ross McGibbon found out to his cost. March 2000

Bosnia: One Eye on the Past, One Eye on the Future Guernica visits Bosnia and finds a country looking forward, even if it will always look back. December 2000

Travels in Eastern Europe Intrigued (though not convinced) by talk of socialism, particularly in the context of consumer capitalism and globalisation, Andy Wier took a 3-week trip to get a glimpse into the post-Communist experience of some of the countries of Eastern Europe. November 2001

For America Experiences in the United States of America. December 2001

Toronto: Where is Here? Of all the nations in the world, Canada takes the most immigrants. Richard Berry, an Englishman living in Toronto finds himself at the crossroads of multiculturalism and American imperialism. January 2002

A Very Rough Guide to Barcelona Pollution, Hotel California and Virtual Frogger? Mike Williams gives you a very rough guide to Barcelona…. December 2002

Depositing of Excess Baggage on the Way to Bilbao Toileteering can be a costly exercise as Mike Williams found out. April 2003

Leuven and Brussels May 2003

A Very Rough Guide to Gijon February 2006

Taiwan ¿Estas pensando en ir a Taiwan? ¡Entonces ven comigo y juntos pasamos un mes en esta isla tan interesante! February 2006

Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily Island hopping in the Mediterranean. 2006

A Very Rough Guide to Paris Taking in the French capital. 2008

Venezuela [back to the top]
¿Qué pasa con Chavez? En 1999 Hugo Chavez inició una revolución social en Venezuela. Seis años mas tarde ¿Quien ganó y quien perdió? October 2005

Venezuela En Guerra Contra Los Estados Unidos February 2006