Posts by tag
london
Hamantaschen
A family tale of emigration, tradition, and future. Becca Miles joins Talking Soup with a story as carefully crafted as freshly made hamantaschen.
Tunnel Under Greenwich
Deptford native, George Aitch, takes us under the Thames through the largely unknown Greenwich Foot Tunnel. The soul of London lies in its hidden places.
The Summer I Dated a Drag Queen
I went to London with trashy dreams, expecting to finally have the sexually free gay experience. I dated a drag queen one summer but it didn’t work out.
Dole Life Part One: What you have to do for £50 a week
What you have to do for £50 a week in Britain. This is British life on the dole. Steven Bradbury gives Talking Soup the inside scoop on a life of Job Seeker’s Allowance.
ANGER
‘To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost, almost all of the time — and in one’s work. And part of the rage is this: It isn’t only what is happening to you. But it’s what’s happening all around you and all of the time in the face of the most extraordinary and criminal indifference, indifference of most white people in this country, and their ignorance’ – James Baldwin.
The Battle of the Heart Over the Mind
Life is full of changes, and with younger folk are ever-more trapped in a cycle of work and rent, Fulvio Milesi joins us to give us his take on leaving a job that appealed to the mind, but not the heart.
How Black Was My Thumb?
I finish my £8.30 pint and head for where I used to live. Why? I’ve started writing now, I might as well go. It’s an ex-council block. East London thick brick. Rubicon cans on the stairwell, faulty lifts. A kid called Abdi that tries to sell you weed every time you see him, even though you tell him that you don’t smoke weed. It was him that I thought I saw walking past the pub. He’s got a dog. He told me that it is was rare for a Bengali to have a dog. I wonder if he’s still here?
Storm the Palace and Louis Rive talk about music
I guess they’re the kind of lyrics most songwriters would use as a place-holder before coming up with something more universal and generic. Apparently the Beatles song ‘Yesterday’ was originally about bacon and eggs, but obviously McCartney decided to change the words to something more commercially viable. Thankfully commercial viability isn’t something I need to worry about. And for me, at least, I still find the lyrics quite meaningful as they are.
Degas, The Dancing Triangle
To commemorate the centennial of Degas’s death (1917), many books were published and shows were held. In London, The National Gallery show “Drawn in Colour” was organised in conjunction with it and with the marvellous opportunity to include works from the Burrell collection. I visited together with Dr. Penny Florence (Slade) and as we both come from a different background, our conversation in front of the paintings spurred new insights and encouraged me to write about Degas’s work, the way I see it.
Kensington and the Russian Billionaire’s Daughter
My old company were the masters of web hosting hyperbole. One of our most famous internet magazine ads listed everything as free, except the price. Free hosting, Free web space, free domain name, free email address, all of which begged the question; if everything was free, just exactly what was the punters paying for?
The Beautiful Game
We stood on the terrace, a paltry sprinkling of crowd awaiting a corner. Those whom we had come to see stood at arms’ length, the accentuated shouts, the frenetic panting and the smell of turf and bloke as vivid in my mind now as it was a solid 20 years ago.
The Strange Case of Derick Johnson
For some reason, my first instinct was to assume that Derick Johnson was a figment of Nick’s imagination or a sort of creative in-joke between some of the players. The name, I observed, sounded like a character from Mad Men. I imagined a dapper fellow in his mid-thirties turning up to play, with a short glass of scotch on the rocks in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
Fainting Distance
New in a foreign city, Carter Vance explores the modern way of meeting people. Everything is digital in our age and it doesn’t look like it will change soon.
Six feet deep
A beloved grandmother’s death sparks unbridled joy at the funeral from the unbelievably dysfunctional Ackerson family.
Mile End to Clydebank
In a heroic attempt to watch Scotland lose at football, Laurence visits an East-End boozer and encounters one of his Scottish compatriots.
How to Make it in Modern Art
Making it in the world of modern art is tough. Want the insider’s guide to artistic super-stardom? Here are some secrets of the trade that will capitulate you to be the next Damien Hirst.
The grim reality of sex after a bunch of booze
City worker, James Richardson, describes an anonymous hook up in a bar and the grim reality of trying to have sex after 12 pints of beer.
The Grudge Elephant
Sarah and Michaels lives are becoming a misery. So they buy an elephant to take away the pain.
The Ultimate London Pub Crawl
Two friends and one 23 year long quest; to get drunk in the vicinity of all 270 London underground stations.
Too High Too Far Too Soon
An excerpt from Simon Mason’s “Too High Too Far Too Soon”, a revelatory rock ‘n’ roll memoir of a life of drugs, Britpop and spiralling drug addiction.
The Plumber
A struggling writer works in a cafe and discovers a secret business operating in his workplace.
Slimehouse
Living in Limehouse, East London has its up and downs. A witty account by Limehouse resident and author Sean Preston.