Latin Lessons for Turtles: Cincinnatus and the ability to give up power
Tim Beasley-Murray, Associate Professor of European Thought and Culture, UCL, draws on the mythical tale of the virtuous Roman dictator, Cincinnatus, to highlight an important lesson about losing for Donald Trump. Continue reading Latin Lessons for Turtles: Cincinnatus and the ability to give up power
The Modernist Bestiary: a new life for an old form of expression
Timothy Mathews, Emeritus Professor of French and Comparative Criticism, UCL, offers insight into his latest publication ‘The Modernist Bestiary’, a collection which engages with animals, art, and aesthetic, exploring “productive dialogue between thought and art.” The contributions, co-edited with Sarah Kay (New York University), centre on the work of French-Polish poet Guillaume Apollinaire, French artist Raoul Dufy, and British artist Graham Sutherland. Why return to very … Continue reading The Modernist Bestiary: a new life for an old form of expression
Hard bargaining dies hard
The cultural factors behind Britain’s ill-suited Brexit negotiation strategy While the UK is weaker than the EU on key metrics of bargaining power, the British approach to the Brexit negotiations has been characterised by hard bargaining. Benjamin Martill, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, writes that a number of cultural factors have influenced the UK’s decision to adopt such a sub‐optimal strategy, … Continue reading Hard bargaining dies hard
Documenting Post-Socialist Domesticities (in time of the pandemic)
Dr Iulia Statica, Marie Curie Research Fellow at Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, spent the summer shooting a documentary, ‘My Socialist Home’ and doing fieldwork with women in Bucharest – she explored their everyday experiences of post-socialist housing and how COVID-19 has impacted their way of life in these homes. Post-socialist domestic spaces are generally evoked as consistently grey, uniform and lacking empathy. Despite the … Continue reading Documenting Post-Socialist Domesticities (in time of the pandemic)
Reluctant European
Sir Stephen Wall, Political Expert, Historian, and Former Ambassador, highlights how the tale of British hostility towards Europe had existed before the referendum to leave the European Union. He notes how Britain’s sense of national identity has been in conflict with its political and economic need for partnership with continental Europe. Continue reading Reluctant European
