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China Flash: Benedicte Bro-Cassard, Beijing fashion photographer, on the...
This is a greatly expanded version of an article which first appeared in Time Out Beijing.Archive: Marpessa by Bénédicte Bro-CassardBénédicte Bro-Cassardis fashion. Occasionally going by the pseudonym...
View ArticleAnother China rumour
The worst rumour I've heard so far here in Beijing is that they put cow piss in milk to make it taste stronger. It's worse than the thought that I might have eaten cat-on-a-stick when tempted by...
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Beijing night
Click to enlarge. Image (c) Cherry LiThis photograph was taken by my amazing flatmate Cherry Li. She's based across LA, Beijing and Paris but works internationally. The above was her version of a...
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China Flash: Film-maker Jenny Man Wu on contemporary Chinese women’s wit,...
This is a greatly expanded version of an article which first appeared in Time Out Beijing, where I am currently doing a stint as Deputy Editor.Jenny Man Wu is a film-making powerhouse, describing her...
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WHY: What's happening for the young? A new festival at the Southbank,...
Children and young people stand up for their rights at a new Southbank Centre festival, running from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 October 2014WHY?What’s Happening for the Young will take over the entire...
View ArticleChina Flash: Hair envy
My friend Peaches’s hair was so beautiful that, having her photograph taken for a college art project at eighteen, the photographer commented, “Your hair must be the envy of horses everywhere.” Her...
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Photos
This post has been back-dated. It was put up on 15th January 2015. The image immediately below is the most recent shot of me.Photo by Shekhar Bhatia, taken 14th January 2015Photo taken December 30th...
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The reality of asylum and refuge in modern Britain
This essay was first published by the Free Word for its Briefing Notes series, pegged to my book Asylum and Exile: The Hidden Voices of London. Bodies in boats. Grateful, half-drowned people wrapped in...
View ArticleChoosing political sides in England's porn-fed, combative culture
This is an oddly backdated essay reprinted from the 28 Days project released a month before the 2015 general election, just before the Tories got in for another 5 years with a (slim) majority. You can...
View ArticlePsychogeography of trauma: inside a UK detention centre
A slightly different (worse) version of this essay was published by The Free Word Centre as part of its Briefing Notes essay series. Read the original here.The detention centre was, hands down, one of...
View ArticleOn sex, race, migration and asylum
This long interview was initially granted to Asian Culture Vulture magazine and pegged to my book, Asylum and Exile: The Hidden Voices of London, which was the result of my outreach work with asylum...
View ArticleMy shade of feminism
In 2012 I was asked to contribute to the brilliant anthology, Fifty Shades of Feminism, which was published by Virago in 2013 and inspired events and other anthologies across the world. The Daily Mail...
View ArticleChina Flash: Beijing storms, turtles and dogs
The thirty year old tree was uprooted, a raw ball of soil and naked noodle roots winched up above street level, a metal spiked fence sagging under the trunk. A group of workmen had cordoned it off and...
View ArticleChina Flash: Porcelain dolls, bad Samaritans and the law
“You cunt, you cunt, you cunt, you fucking cunt, you stupid cunt cunt cunt cunt.”We’re in the Russian quarter of Beijing, close by the stone walkways, pagodas and manicured firs of Ritan Park. The shop...
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China Flash: Even afternoon tea says something about modern, monetised Beijng
Afternoon tea at The Opposite House, in association with Jo MaloneThis is a greatly expanded version of a short write-up which first appeared in Time Out Beijing where I did a brief stint as Deputy...
View ArticleChina Flash: My friend writes me a delicate poem to explain the intense...
In the summerEvery time it rainsThe heat comes down.In the springEvery time it snowsIt gets warmer.In the winterThe heaven’s getting rid of all its coldness.Autumn lasts a...
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From Jane Eyre to Clarissa Dalloway, beware your classic heroines
This article was originally commissioned by The Guardian, pegged to The Secret Life of Books: Jane Eyre, which will be broadcast on BBC4 on Tuesday 30th September at 8.30pm. Watch it here online until...
View ArticleChina Flash: Hair envy
My friend Peaches’s hair was so beautiful that, having her photograph taken for a college art project at eighteen, the photographer commented, “Your hair must be the envy of horses everywhere.” Her...
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