The environmental cost of abandoning your tent at a music festival
After years of depressing images of huge fields strewn with abandoned tents and rubbish in the aftermath of music festivals, it was heartening to…
People
Trillions of cigarette butts are littered each year and it’s damaging environment
It’s amazing how quickly people have ditched plastic straws thanks to campaigns to discourage us from using such “pointless plastic”. Yet rarely do we…
Tea and Heroin with a Tribal Chief in Al Qaeda Territory
There’s something about the title tribal chief that evokes images of grey beards, charismatic eyes, and charming smiles. I’d been expecting Gandalf. But this…
Art from Under the Iron Thumb
Under Soviet rule until 1990, the Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – lived in fear, hunger and censorship. Books, magazines and rock…
The carbon emissions of celebrities
The jet-setting habits of Bill Gates and Paris Hilton mean that they produce an astonishing 10,000 times more carbon emissions from flying than the…
How to assess political stability? Follow the bread path
When Egyptians were protesting in 2011, they held up a piece of bread and demanded “bread, freedom and social justice”. Since the 2007-8 and…
Cambodia: A Forgotten Generation
The scars of a country brutally bled of almost two million people are still embedded in every aspect of Cambodia today. The roots of…
Dougie Wallace interview: Road Wallah – a requiem to Mumbai’s cab drivers in photos
Words by Alex Durham The evolution of India’s modernising metropolis is bittersweet. As an environmentally conscious model city emerges, Mumbai’s iconic Padmini taxis are…
The World’s Most Delicious Heritage: An Interview with Grandmas Project founder Jonas Pariente
What do you remember your grandmother cooking, Knedle, Lait du poule Mechi, or Molokheya? These are just some of the recipes included in the…
Why do national anthems cause so much trouble?
Canadian MPs have voted in favour of making their country’s national anthem, O Canada, gender neutral, replacing the words “in all thy sons command”…
Three ways people are reacting to coronavirus: ‘accepting’, ‘suffering’ and ‘resisting’
There remains near-universal backing for the coronavirus lockdown among the UK public. In our study, nine out of ten people support the measures, including…
Toilet graffiti: secrets, support and solidarity in the women’s restroom
Communicating has never been so easy; we can to send messages and texts to friends and strangers in an instant from a variety of…
Death of the Hipster: are we living in a post-ironic world?
In a world that is perpetually obsessed with labels, I found myself thinking about the concept of the ‘hipster’ and what had happened to…
Why Berlin needs techno to avoid becoming just another city
Gentrification, it’s all well and good in principle: improving areas with renewal and rebuilding. But it can also have a pretty dark side with…
Saving a Sinking Jakarta
According to Fakhrurozi, 40% of Jakarta lies below sea level. He should know, too: he’s the head of Water Resources for Jakarta’s Public Works…
Defensive architecture: designing the homeless out of cities
On any one night in London, there around 700 people sleeping in the city’s streets. Rough sleeping is a risky decision – and almost…
The Connected Self: How Will Wearable Tech Shape Humanity?
In early summer 2018, I ran over hill and glen through Scotland’s northwest Highlands, wearing two smart devices I’d been asked to review –…
A Sinister Time Capsule Marked for the Year 12,038
Imagine a time capsule that you’re sealing away, but instead of planning to open it in a decade or two, you want it to…
Who are the Women of Quiverfull?
“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full…
A Means of Suppression and Expression: The Walls of Bethlehem, Palestine
Bethlehem, located in the Palestinian Territories, is an inherently religious city. Its name connotes the Bible and Christianity for many, but the reality of…