Britain
Buzzcocks’ Steve Diggle: life lessons from a punk pioneer
‘I thought I was going to die’ — The Buzzcocks guitarist reflects on life, death, and the group’s indelible legacy: ‘I joined a punk band and was sniffing speed. The world fucking changed’
Written by: Jeremy Allen
The Rhythm Method: music for your quarter-life crisis
Pints, pills & picket fences — With their debut album, the London duo narrate the trials of life in your mid-to-late-twenties, looking for light in suburban estates and crowded local pubs. For the band, it’s about seeking out the magic in the mundane.
Written by: Niall Flynn
The British sex workers fighting censorship
Red light revolution — The British sex trade remains an off-radar taboo, relegated to a legal grey area. But with looming legislation threatening to put workers in danger, sex activists are fighting to be better understood.
Written by: Lydia Morrish
Coming of age on the British coast
Sun, sex and scraps — During the summer of 1976, Iain McKell picked up the camera for the first time and began documenting his seaside hometown of Weymouth – from punch-ups in the mud, to drunken kisses on the dancefloor.
Written by: Jacob Charles Wilson
A photographic tribute to the British seaside
State of the nation — A new photography exhibition – featuring work from Martin Parr, Dafydd Jones and Grace Lau – examines UK beach culture from the 1850s to the 21st century.
Written by: Zoe Whitfield
Why scooterboys represent the best of British subculture
Homegrown heroes — Not everyone who rides a classic scooter is a Mod. Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, a far more frequent sight were Scooterboys and Scootergirls: a new breed of rider with a punk attitude and homegrown style.
Written by: Mani
Inside the UK’s most radical indie publishers
Part Ten: Comma Press — Unapologetically political, Comma Press are in the vanguard of UK literary culture – publishing some of the most challenging short stories in the industry.
Written by: Kit Caless
Beats and bills: how capitalism destroyed UK club culture
A love letter to ’90s rave — In the new film Beats, director Brian Welsh travels back to 1990s Aberdeen to tell the story of rave culture – why it mattered, and how it got torn apart.
Written by: Colin Crummy
Adventures with the world’s oldest off-road cycling club
On yer bike — Formed in 1955, the Rough-Stuff Fellowship is a pioneering gang of adventurists who believe that you can go anywhere on two wheels. Over 60 years after it started, an archive of the club’s defining moments is finally coming to light.
Written by: Niall Flynn
There is no such thing as a ‘good landlord’
The system is broken — Our engorged property market – and the ensuing housing crisis – has become a cornerstone of the British economy. Those who actively profit from it shouldn’t be absolved.
Written by: Tristan Cross