Alex King
How will Olympic selection affect surfing and skateboarding?
A battle for the soul of the culture — News that surf and skate will feature in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has divided the community. Is Olympic selection the death of a counterculture or a bright new dawn for surf and skate?
Written by: Alex King
What could a new UK recession mean for young people?
We need an economy that works — We spoke to economist Laurie MacFarlane, who explains young people are likely to bear the brunt of another economic downturn.
Written by: Alex King
Snowy: The MC leading Nottingham grime’s conquest of the UK
Notts is wild — Nottingham’s hardest working MC is helping to build the foundations for a new generation of grime artists dragging the spotlight away from London.
Written by: Alex King
What makes Al Qaeda suicide bombers tick?
Humanising the enemy — Director Paul Refsdal lived alongside Jhabat al-Nusra’s ‘martyrdom seekers’ in Syria to understand what motivates them in his hard-hitting documentary Dugma: The Button.
Written by: Alex King
The alternative parties keeping old working class venues alive
Partying to survive — London’s declining traditional venues are surviving by providing a home for threatened alternative nightlife, from live music to LGBTQ parties.
Written by: Alex King
Utah & Ether: The Bonnie and Clyde of graffiti
The outlaw artists — This couple broke probation to go on a worldwide tagging spree. But living on the run, chased from country to country, has taught them the true meaning of independence.
Written by: Alex King
The lost street gangs of NYC’s Lower East Side
Unseen America — The uniformed street gangs who inspired cult classic The Warriors were violent pillars of community identity, before being swept away by gentrification and the commercialisation of the drug trade.
Written by: Alex King
Secret Garden Party is the first UK festival to introduce official drug testing service
What’s in your baggy? — Secret Garden Party festival offered festivalgoers the opportunity to have their drugs tested to help avoid overdoses and poisonings.
Written by: Alex King
Shabaka Hutchings on Africa’s eternal cultural influence
Following the bloodlines — Sons of Kemet and The Comet is Coming frontman Shabaka Hutchings explains how a new generation of artists are rediscovering and reinterpreting Africa’s immense musical, artistic and stylistic heritage.
Written by: Alex King
The artist peering into the darkest corners of the War on Terror
From suburbia to Guantanamo — Artist Edmund Clark’s ‘War of Terror’ exhibition reveals the true face of the West's secret battle against terrorism: state censorship, control, torture, extra-judicial detention and Extraordinary Rendition.
Written by: Alex King