About a fortnight ago, a friend asked me how I felt about the rising torrent of racism and intolerance that has engulfed the UK in recent weeks. The answer is complicated. We have all seen a renewed obsession with St. George's Cross, plastered across buildings, roads and houses across the country. Culminating in 'Unite the Kingdom', the largest far-right gathering in London, consisting of almost 150,000 people , flag-bearing has once again reignited the perennial immigration conversation. "Scary, isn't it?", my friend asked. Indeed, lots has happened in the two weeks since to reinforce that feeling for anyone of colour in the UK. Yet, with an air of inevitable cynicism, I disagreed. "To be scared evokes a feeling of surprise, shock and anger. It's hard to feel that when it's been so the path has been built long before this month." Racism is entrenched within this country, and it's not just from the working-class. It's not just from t...
The phrase "now or never" is often overused hyperbole. Yet it does at least feel like we are reaching a tipping point in society, and one that is fracturing a growing chasm between younger generations. With the digital revolution empowering people to control their own consumption and interaction with the world, Gen Z are choosing individualism over unity. Online safety has dominated the headlines recently, with Stephen Graham's gripping Netflix drama Adolescence charting the pervasive dangers of the 'manosphere', the Andrew Tate-like content that young men and teenage boys are increasingly turning towards. These influencers are weaponising culture wars, stoking division in young people through gender lines. Adolescence (Netflix) It is no surprise then, that recent data from Ipsos UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London highlights that Gen Z men and women are the most divided generation when it comes to the subject of gender ...