Category: Uncategorized
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Laughing Boy at Jermyn Street, amongst the red buses
Last Friday I went to see the theatre adaptation of Sara Ryan’s book ‘Justice for Laughing Boy.’ The story, and the joy, rage and sadness contained within, are close to home. If you’re not aware of Connor and the story of his life and death, then it may be worth reading this post I wrote…
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Two years, 10 days and counting
We arrived in Oxford late in the morning, drizzle running off the umbrellas of fresh-faced students who buzzed about the halls entrance. We slipped into the building through a closing door and made our way to Ava’s room and waited for her to return from a tutorial. Two empty vodka bottles stood almost entirely alone…
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Spencer’s sessions, about more than the money
I first decided to host a party in Spencer’s memory after last year’s Houghton which I returned from feeling inspired rather than depleted – a strong testament to the magic of this amazing festival – keen to combine my love of dance music with a wider political and personal project. I have always wanted the…
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memento mori
“This is a dance with death; we are communicating with spirits.” In her recent book, The Fear, Christiana Spens writes that photography is, at its base level, “simply a way of communicating – not only with the spectres of the past, but with the very alive and present people whose attention we wish to engage.”…
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In defence of lawyers
The end of summer always brings a similar feeling – (re)awakening out of the hazy, dilated days of summer – it rolls around rhythmically like the cool shock of the pool after the sweaty sun lounger. This year the first day of September was particularly marked and was foreshadowed by more angst than the usual…
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The Madness of Love
First point of order: it must be addressed how long I have been thinking about and trying to write this post. It has been a long time, too long. I said in my first post that I knew it would be hard, but I thought this would manifest as pouring my heart out over the…
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Justice for Laughing Boy – 10 years on
Connor Sparrowhawk, or Laughing Boy (LB) as he came to be known, was a young man who lived in Oxfordshire. LB loved his family, the family dog (Chunky Stan), the environment and buses. Connor laughed at cheesy jokes, The Inbetweeners and films like Napoleon Dynamite. I never met Connor, nor have I met any of…
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It’s ‘Like’ solidarity
People often talk about performative politics these days, virtue signalling and the like. To be honest, I’ve always thought, at face value anyway, that that’s a good thing – why wouldn’t you want people to signal favourable virtues? Clearly the worry is that the signal is not followed by any meaningful action. And I think…
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Always is to Joy inclined
We would often describe Spence as a bit of a Mr. Hyde / Dr. Jekyll type. On his good days Spencer truly was one of the most loving people I have ever met, a pure unadulterated love – no bullshit; just love bursting out of his heart trying to touch yours. However, sadly Spencer was…