UK politics

As Julian Assange’s extradition hearing continues at the Old Bailey, I cross-post, with my own introduction, an analysis and appreciation of my work on the Guantánamo files released by WikiLeaks in 2011 (on which I worked as media partner), as written by Patrick Lawrence for Consortium News.

Linking to a video of my band The Four Fathers playing at a small party in a park in south London on August 29, 2020, and my assessment of the changing rules regarding gatherings, which would now make this illegal — although whether or not the new ban on gatherings of more than six people is a proportionate response by the government to an increase in infection rates is something that, I believe, needs discussing.

My thoughts as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition hearing begins at the Old Bailey in London, with the US government, under Donald Trump, seeking to extradite him to face espionage charges that would lead to him spending the rest of his life in a US prison, if convicted.

Drawing on an excellent article about COVID-19 and American exceptionalism by the anthropologist Wade Davis for Rolling Stone, I look at the crisis of leadership in the US when it comes to dealing with the unprecedented challenges for our economic future caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and compare how similar failures of leadership also plague the UK.

As Boris Johnson encourages employers to urge their workers to return to the office, to revive the businesses that serve office workers, and to keep the real estate business happy, I look at how recent research has established that just 13% of workers want to return to the office full-time. I also point out that office workers are not the only ones causing problems for businesses and their landlords, with the collapse of tourism also playing a major part.

Marking 3,000 days since I first set out on my bike on a daily basis to take photos of the changing face of the capital for a project that became known as ‘The State of London.’ On the fifth anniversary of the start of the project, I began posting a photo a day on Facebook, where I have now posted 1,176 photos.

My response to the good news that the appeals court has ruled unlawful the British government’s patently unlawful — and cruelly immoral — decision last year to strip the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a British citizen who was just 15 when she travelled to Syria to become a “jihadi bride.”

An article marking 120 unbroken days in which I’ve been taking photos on daily bike rides throughout the coronavirus lockdown in London, and posting them as part of my ongoing photo-journalism project ‘The State of London.’ This article features my reflections on this extraordinary time, as well as some previously unpublished photos. Enjoy!

Today, Bandcamp, the US online music service, is waiving its fees to help musicians, so please feel free to buy any of the studio recordings by my band The Four Fathers, including our brand-new online single, ‘The Wheel of Life’, a meditation on mortality and living in the moment.

An update on the coronavirus crisis, looking in particular at the difficulties accompanying the lifting of lockdown restrictions, with a positive focus on reduced office use and an end to overcrowded rush-hour public transport, but cautionary reflections on a general economic over-reliance on mass tourism, which afflicts London almost as much as it does other overcrowded holiday destinations like Venice and Barcelona.