Working-class Artist. It's an interesting term. The very phrase suggests that a working class person is somehow out of place in this field. Imagine saying “Here’s Benedict, the middle-class bricklayer,” or “Gerald is an upper-class mechanic.” It sounds absurd. But why does it sounds absurd? Because manual
Sea Glass What allows you to take the title of sea? I stare as shining fragments, wondering if after all their time in water they are now no sharper than the water. I try to imagine a world where they were spat out by creatures below, like oysters spit forming
In Britain in 2026, debates about the body are far from abstract. The National Health Service faces mounting pressure from cuts, outsourcing, and creeping privatisation. Food banks are part of everyday life for hundreds of thousands. Long-documented health inequalities are widening: life expectancy varies dramatically by postcode, and for many
As I sit reflecting on the release of my first published novel, I can’t help but wonder what I have gained from the experience. The first of four books is now available in all bookstores, and with the launch successfully landed, I'm seeing many opportunities arise from
Going arcades on a Saturday Gotta beat the penny pushers Wishing for my winning way Rover on the number nine Racing down the seafront steps Passing all the pram pushers Gulls diving for kids’ chips Nan’s ready with the coins Boys are out in their cars Cruising in the
JADE: So nice to see you again, it’s been a while, we’ve come full circle. What have you been up to since we last saw each other? LYDIA: I know, exactly two years since we did that photoshoot! I’ve been working on things loosely related to weddings
1 NOTHING again. Nothing. Not in the cupboards, or the fridge. I mean, not nothing, not exactly, but nothing I can use, or want. If I have to bore and bloat myself with another bowl of plain pasta, if I have to modestly grate some corner-shop cheddar on top, make
We had nearly 100 years of British Democracy with universal suffrage. Now we are facing the probability that it may end in a few years, around about its centenary if Reform get in. They are odds on to do that. People compare our predicament to the Thirties in Germany and
Interviewer: Tommy Sissons There are few working-class characters on British television and in film, and even fewer played by actors from working-class backgrounds. Maxine Peake’s ability to channel her own class experience into characters who occupy a familiar (and often central) role in working-class communities, and the way that
Interviewer: Tommy Sissons Subculture diarist Jeanie Jean has spent the past few years immersed in Britain’s living youth cultures, documenting them from the inside as a participant. Her work captures the vitality, dynamism, and tenacity that characterise these underground communities, and demonstrates the ways in which young people today
Written by Tommy Sissons When architects Alison and Peter Smithson named the Poplar council estate they designed Robin Hood Gardens, they invoked the legendary Nottinghamshire outlaw as a symbol of the Welfare State: a system intended to redistribute wealth for the benefit of all. Completed in 1972, the estate emerged
Written by Tommy Sissons Jeanie and the White Boys have come bursting out of the gates. Since forming last year, they’ve released two singles, played Glastonbury (their second gig, no less), and toured across the UK. Emerging from the east London queer arts community and the south London punk