The great Alexander Cockburn, former @thenation.com columnist, died 13 years ago today. Here is a wonderful story from his father Claud Cockburn about lovelorn British diplomat Basil Murray & an ape in Republican Spain, republished in Alex’s diaries ‘A Colossal Wreck’ (@versobooks.bsky.social)

See my original introduction from last year reproduced below. 2024 marks a year thinking deeply about the legacy of Stuart Hall, beginning with a Red Pepper special published a decade after his death. Thanks to people like Mike, Nick Beech, Catherine & the Foundation, we all get to see these gems.

Lovely surprise to be mentioned in this @nybooks piece over the weekend reproducing a sweeping conversation between the most lucid black intellectuals to grace Britain - CLR James & Stuart Hall

www.nybooks.com/online/2024/...

Thanks to legendary BBC producer Mike Dibb for getting the ball rolling

I was talking to wonderful @drmatthewsweet.bsky.social
today about the existence of a glorious late-90s rendition of Bernard Cribbins’ ‘Right, Said Fred’, performed by… Maya Angelou & Jessica Mitford…!

open.spotify.com/track/3SL3Dh...

Bumped into the great John Rogers today, who signed a second-hand copy of This Other London I’m currently reading. Enjoyed a good gossip + love learning about the radical recent past of Leyton / Leytonstone (‘London’s Left Bank’)

Resonance FM won Network of the Year third year running !!

I wanted to draw attention to two excellent & very recent books with dedications to my friend and yours, the late great Dawn Foster (1986-2021):
- Peak Injustice by Danny Dorling
- From The Ashes by Sarah Jaffe

I’m the guest editor of the current issue of @culturalstudies.bsky.social looking at the worldwide legacy of the great Stuart Hall.

You can read the entire series & my introduction here for free: www.stuarthallfoundation.org/resource/int...