There is nothing those who spend far too much time thinking and tweeting about politics like more than a chance to look like they’re engaging in a national cultural event (one everyone else might also be talking about). The word “hinterland” is flashing like a neon sign in our hindbrains. A chance to look normal – this is all we ask.
Read More
Save
Idon’t know what Rishi Sunak’s wife looks like. I don’t know who her favourite band is or which football team she supports. Nor do I care and nor is it my business. If journalists or comedians were making bad jokes about Sunak’s family, that would allow him a perfect right to be as indignant about it as he likes. He’s public property – she isn’t.
But that’s not what’s happening when Sunak is being asked questions about his wife’s business with Russian companies. In this case, a senior law-maker is being asked about his close ties to those dealing with Russian businesses as his government decides on and imposes sanctions on that country.
Read More
The situation in Ukraine – and the response of its people from Zelensky downwards – has shown that a positive narrative of national identity is perfectly possible. Neither does it have to be denied to achieve a sense of international solidarity or national change and development.
Now is the perfect time for progressive people in the UK to ask how we too could adopt this narrative of national solidarity to build a better future.
Read More
In the final article in her guest editor series, Emma Burnell examines the relationship between theatre and real-life politics, speaking to industry figures such as James Graham, and a number of other critics and playwrights.
Emma Burnell is a Journalist, Political Consultant and Playwright. Her first play, No Cure for Love can be seen here.
“A playwright has to have a really good story. The politics should fit around it… I don’t want ever to feel like I am being hammered around the head with a message.”
These are the words of culture politics journalist Nicole Lambert and they have stuck with me as I have thought about this series of blogs exploring the ways in which politics and the performing arts interact – be that through comedy, a particular playwright or in its effect on an audience. There is so much scope for persuasion and even activation through theatre - but where does that leave the people who are seeing themselves depicted on stage?
Read MoreFor the past 20 years, I have worked in and around Westminster — primarily in communications for think tanks and latterly also as a political consultant and journalist.
I've written comment and analysis pieces for UK national newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent, The Times, and The Telegraph and was the contributing editor of an online political-news outlet, LabourList, for five years.
While I was brought up to be politically minded, this wasn't what I always wanted to do. As a child and a teen, I was desperate to be an actress.
Read MoreThere has been much talk of whether or not Boris Johnson will remain Tory leader and prime minister in 2022. It won’t have been much of a jolly Christmas for him as speculation about his future continued not just in SW1 but well beyond.
Unhappy MPs will be returning from their breaks this week having had an earful from constituents about the parade of scandals that hit the government from the October fuel crisis onwards and the sense of a government both out of control and out of touch.
Read More
he Labour Party has had lots of really good news lately. Its national polling lead has grown and seems stable against an imploding Tory party. Recent polling by the Fabian Society and YouGov show them even further ahead in their target seats in England and Wales. There’s work to do, but also real cause for optimism and positivity.
This is a great place for Keir Starmer and his party to be at, going into the new year. But you might not know it from the behaviour of some of his most ardent supporters, especially on social media. They seem determined to remain angry – if not gloomy – playing out the fights of the Jeremy Corbyn years internally rather than playing a bigger part in building a positive, self-confident and united party.
Read MoreThis year’s Labour Party conference was an odd affair. How much you enjoyed it or otherwise very much depended on where you stand in relation to the Party itself.
Among the party members attending were many whose loyalty remains with previous leader Jeremy Corbyn MP. He remains a party member (and was thus entitled to attend conference) but is not currently a Labour MP having had the whip withdrawn because of his refusal to accept the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s investigation into antisemitism in the Labour Party while he was leader.
Read MoreThe annual conferences of the main political parties in the UK work under different angles.
For party leaders, the conference is an established platform to show their political offerings, supported by the members who attend the event and who serve as support for their leadership, their political ideas, but also that can reinforce a good image for television.
Read MoreKeir Starmer has – after 17 months, 25 days and two hours – finally been able to make a big speech in a hall full of people. And what a difference that made to his performance.
That he has had to wait so long to properly introduce himself has been a frustration for him and for Labour. His TV appearances can often appear stilted and too formal. So I was not expecting the kind of delivery we saw yesterday at the Brighton Labour Party Conference. It was well-paced, confident and intimate. Keir showed that he can be a good storyteller. We will need to see more of this on TV and at the despatch box. But now we know he has it in him – we didn’t before. There will be expectations.
Read More
There’s a question that is increasingly keeping me awake at night: I’m a 46-year-old political consultant and divorcee. So what on earth makes me think I could write, stage and direct a play about love? No, wait. Not just a play – a musical play!
Well, next week, we will find out if I can. No Cure for Love is running at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe for three performances from Thursday to Saturday. It runs for an hour and has five songs written jointly between myself and my fabulous musical director Jordon Brown.
Read More
It’s the debut play by journalist and political consultant Emma Burnell, who also makes her directorial debut with the premiere production, starring Wendy Morgan and Stephen Russell, with musical direction by Jordan Brown.
No Cure for Love is set in a dingy backstage dressing room at the Broadstairs Folk Festival. Fading musicians Scott and Rose share space and history, flirty banter and vicious jabs. Both as lost as each other, neither of them have yet found the truth behind the love they have sung about all their lives.
Read More