On Benefits and Big TVs
From tabloid columnists to Job Centre snoopers, Britain’s obsession with the less well-off owning flat-screen TVs has become a symbol of how inequality is blamed on those at the bottom, rather than at the top.
5 Articles by:
John Merrick
John Merrick is a London-based writer. He is currently working on his first book, a study of class in contemporary Britain.
You Can Never Go Home Anymore
‘Peterdown’, David Annand’s novel of class and regional divides, threatens to be the state-of-the-nation novel we badly need – but settles too often for easy caricature.
The Novels of Sylvia Townsend Warner
The British novelist’s works, currently being reissued, encompassed witches, communist revolutionaries, and medieval monasteries – but running through them all is her formal invention and socialist politics.
Radical Publishing in a Pandemic
A sharp fall in book sales is accelerating the dominance of Amazon and a handful of giant corporations – while pushing radical publishers and small bookshops to the brink.
What Happened in Crewe
In 2017, Labour’s victory in Crewe seemed to be a sign of renewal in one of its former strongholds. 2019’s result shows that the party’s problems in towns like this run much deeper – and won’t be solved easily.