On 6 October 1960, the film Spartacus opened in New York City’s DeMille Theatre. TIME magazine celebrated “a new kind of Hollywood movie: a super-spectacle with spiritual vitality and moral force”. The New York Times‘ long-time film critic Bosley Crowther was less excited, dismissing the film as “heroic humbug”, adding that “the middle phase is […]
Articles by Phil Butland
What is Cancel Culture? And Does it Matter?
Everyone’s talking about ‘cancel culture’, although there is no clear definition about what it actually is. This discussion is, to a large part, down to an article published in Harpers magazine and signed by various prominent writers ranging from Noam Chomsky via Francis Fukuyama to J.K. Rowling. [1] Although the article does not mention cancel […]
Guernica – a painting of our time
On the 83rd anniversary of the bombing of Guernica, we republish this article from our old Website, originally written for the 80th anniversary.
Please stop telling me that everything‘s fine in Germany
Reports that Angela Merkel’s government is dealing well with the Covid pandemic are not based in reality
David Bowie Obituary
On the anniversaries of David Bowie’s birth and death, we reproduce an obituary by Phil Butland from our old Website