owen-hatherley

80 Articles by:

Owen Hatherley

Owen Hatherley is the culture editor of Tribune and is the author of Artificial Islands.

The Radical Critique of Edward Said

Four new books about the life and works of Edward Said remind us of his towering intellectual significance – and his indispensable contribution to understanding Palestine’s struggle for liberation.

When Localism Is Anti-Social

Recent campaigns against council housing and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in London are a reminder of the dangers of localist rhetoric – and how it can be weaponised against progressive policies.

How Solidarity Rebuilt Vietnam

During the Vietnam War the city of Vinh was almost destroyed by US bombing. It was rebuilt with the help of socialists around the world – and today its architecture stands as a monument to that solidarity.

The War over Work

New books by Jon Cruddas and Amelia Horgan exploring work share much common ground, but come to radically different conclusions – exposing a deep generational divide over the future of the workplace.

The Signs that Make a City

The signs on the street are a measure of how much authorities care about their citizens – and from stylish fonts to neon lights, Britain has a lot to learn from European cities which have used signage to enliven the urban landscape.

Demodernising Jerusalem

A new book, ‘A City in Fragments’, tells the story of how the British Empire sought to dismantle a multicultural and increasingly modern Jerusalem in order to create a ‘holy city’ entombed in a mythical past.

After the Apocalypse

The growing appeal of dystopias, end-of-the-world scenarios and depopulated landscapes is often attributed to cultural decline – but it also speaks to a mourning for better worlds we failed to build.

Red Library: Pamphlets

A serious crisis is always a good time for short, sharp, and prophetic pamphlets. The Covid-19 disaster has especially spurred works dealing both with how the crisis has unfolded, and ways activists can survive it.

A Journey Through ‘Red’ Paris

In the 20th century, leftists used their positions of municipal power in Paris to build some of Europe’s most ambitious social housing projects – housing that was not only beautiful, but affordable and secure.

Thatcher’s Island

Britain is going through both an identity crisis and a process of political disintegration – both of which can trace their roots to the great national project of recent decades: neoliberal reform.

The Marxist Rupert Murdoch

In the 1920s and ’30s, German publisher Willi Münzenberg built a network of magazines, newspapers and film studios that terrified big business interests. It became the largest left-wing media operation in history.

Home Rule for London

In the interwar years, the Labour Party used London as an example to the country of what a socialist government could provide – and how to wrest housing from the grip of slum landlords.

Abolish England?

Movements for Northern Independence and London Home Rule might for now have limited appeal, but they share a common idea – ending today’s centralised and hyper-capitalist England. 

So This Is the Aftermath

Trip-hop pioneer Tricky’s autobiography, ‘Hell is Round the Corner,’ is a powerful statement of working class creativity – and all the forces that are ranged against it.