Poetry
Shades of You
By Philip Wilson Pencil sharpness Creates a likeness Of you, not by its pointed tip But by its story it brings to our lips Profile pictures Are now accepted fixtures In society They give [… read more ]
Articles by Tom Sykes
Poetry
A Capital Stooge
By Amanda Garrie Oh dear, oh dear, treacherous Keir you favour the bosses over job losses. You’re not the right ilk, in your cap, gown and silk; your attempt at a joke has you covered [… read more ]
Memoir
Eat Out to Burn Out: Rishi’s Restaurant Risks Remembered
A little over a year ago, the government announced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme to encourage the British public to spend more money in restaurants after the first pandemic lockdown. Unfortunately, the programme [… read more ]
Politics
Making a Conspiracy Out of a Crisis: Covid-19, Fake News and Anti-Elite Anger
Dr Stephen Harper, media studies lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and member of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB), argues that Covid-related misinformation is a product of our paranoid and resentful age of [… read more ]
Fiction
The Entertaining Angel
By Sue Harper Sarah kept seeing something out of the corner of her eye. It was almost there when she looked aslant, and then it disappeared when she tried to look at it head-on. It [… read more ]
News
Plastic Pollution in Portsmouth: What You Can Do to Save Your City
Plastic waste is a major threat to the world. It poisons our bodies, pollutes our land, air and water, and kills animals of all shapes and sizes down to the tiniest plankton. Every year, our [… read more ]
Politics
Keep Starmer and Carry On? How the Left Might Engage with Sir Keir
Almost every decision Keir Starmer has made since becoming Labour leader has earned the ire of leftist pundits and politicians. But what if the left itself were to change its approach to him and his [… read more ]
Memoir
Covid Lockdown in the Philippines: A Glitch in the Matrix
Award-winning Filipino author, journalist and photographer Karl R De Mesa reports further on the Covid lockdown in Metro Manila, a megacity of at least 12 million people. In this latest piece, originally published in Transit Dialogue [… read more ]
Culture
Portsmouth DarkFest 2020: Covid-safe Chills and Thrills
Portsmouth DarkFest has returned for a Covid-safe Halloween celebration of the supernatural, the macabre and the weird. Since 2016 the organisers have delighted in staging a festival that celebrates the rich and diverse local creative [… read more ]
Politics
Trump, Fake News and the Making of a Dictator
T.J. Coles, postdoctoral researcher at Plymouth University’s Cognition Institute and author of a new book The War On You, reflects on the mobilisation of big data, propaganda and online chicanery in the run-up to November’s [… read more ]