On my radar: Shon Faye’s cultural highlights
The author on an obscene drill track, a writing retreat off the coast of Naples and her love of Almodóvar filmsBorn in Bristol in 1988, Shon Faye studied English literature at Oxford University and trained as a lawyer before turning to writing.She worked as editor-at-large at Dazed, and has contributed to publications including the Guardian, Vice, Novara and Vogue, where she writes the Dear Shon advice column.She hosts the Call Me Mother podcast, for which she interviews LGBTQ+ trailblazers.Faye’s bestselling first book, The Transgender Issue, was published in 2021; her second book, Love in Exile, about the politics of romantic love and relationships, is out now on Allen Lane.She lives in London.
Peggy by CeechynaaThis song came out last year, and my jaw dropped at the obscenity of it.Ceechynaa is a young UK drill rapper, and the narrator of this rap is a dominant, aggressive sex worker who humiliates men – Peggy is a word play on pegging – in a way that I feel would make a lot of men genuinely quite terrified.A lot of the music I’ve been listening to has been about female vulnerability, so it was refreshing to hear something that is the antithesis of that, and absolutely not for the male gaze.Recognising the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella HammadHammad originally delivered this essay as the Edward Said memorial lecture, days before 7 October.It looks at the idea of recognition scenes in fiction – what Aristotle called anagnorisis – when a character recognises something they already knew at some level, but they fully recognise the truth and it confronts them with the limitations of their own knowledge.
She takes this idea and expands it to people coming to recognise the personhood of Palestinians.I listened to the audiobook recently and was astonished at the ferocity of Hammad’s intellect.Procida, ItalyThis is an island off the coast of Naples where I wrote a lot of my book.I twice went there to work on my own – when I’m doing a first draft I tend to struggle in London because there are so many distractions.Procida is captivating for the imagination.
I was watching The Talented Mr Ripley – since it’s the older, better version of Saltburn – and I recognised that it was all filmed there.I took a lot of walks, and you become intimately aware of this small island and its landmarks.Brutto, LondonWhen I’m at a party and someone tells me to put on a song, I immediately become fearful that my music taste is terrible and everyone’s gonna laugh at me – I feel like that about restaurant recommendations because I have so many friends who are foodies.But what I love about Brutto is that it’s all Florentine, simple, Italian dishes.It’s charming, it’s unpretentious, and it’s in Clerkenwell, so it’s perfectly located.
My friend Monica Heisey, the novelist, suggested it once for dinner in September, and I’ve become totally obsessed with it.Now it’s my go-to spot.Pedro AlmodóvarI’m a huge Almodóvar fan – I enjoyed his new film The Room Next Door, but I’ve been thinking recently about 2004’s Bad Education.I first saw it when I was a teenager, and there’s a section where Gael García Bernal plays a transgender woman called Zahara.Now it’s quite problematic, because he’s a cis man, but he looked so beautiful, and I wasn’t used to seeing representations of trans women in that way.
I love that Almodóvar integrated trans characters in quite a humanised way, especially for the time,Anglophone cinema still has a way to go to catch up with Spanish-language cinema on this,Dilara FindikogluI don’t impulsively spend as a rule, but the last time I felt a little bit heartbroken over a man, I went to a Dilara sample sale in east London,They had this Fire dress – Julia Fox wore one – which is heavily corseted, and I ended up walking out with one that, to be honest, I’ve only really worn on one occasion,It was pure: “I want to make myself feel better using a bit of consumerism.
” I love that Dilara’s designs espouse a kind of gothic femininity: high cinching but also hard and strong, like a warrior.
Calls to toughen Lords rules as it is revealed one in 10 peers are paid for political advice
Ninety-one members of the House of Lords have been paid by commercial companies to give political or policy advice, amid concerns that their activities are not being properly regulated.Analysis by the Guardian shows that more than one in 10 peers have taken payments from businesses such as lobbyists and companies operating in the banking, defence and energy sectors. Peers can earn tens of thousands of pounds a year for such roles.They include the former Conservative health minister Andrew Lansley and the ex-Labour home secretary David Blunkett.The Guardian’s analysis found 91 members of the Lords were being paid for their political advice by organisations such as Santander bank, the French arms manufacturer Thales and the British digger-maker JCB
Revealed: how members of House of Lords benefit from commercial interests
A Guardian investigation into the House of Lords raises questions over the accountability of parliament’s second chamber, with revelations about how a string of peers are benefiting from commercial interests.One in 10 members have been hired to give political or policy advice, according to their own declarations, and others do paid work for companies that could conflict with their role as legislators. The findings expose weaknesses in the Lords code of conduct and raise questions about whether the rules on lobbying and paid employment should be tightened in line with restrictions signed up to by MPs.The investigation sheds new light on the extent to which money flows into politics from those who hold peerages or go on to secure them, with more than £100m given to the three main parties over the last two decades, much of it by a small group of influential super-donors.Many members of the Lords make a valuable contribution to its main purpose of refining and scrutinising legislation
Starmer and Macron agree to show ‘united leadership in support of Ukraine’
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have agreed to show “united leadership in support of Ukraine” when they separately meet Donald Trump this week.The UK prime minister and the French president spoke on Sunday afternoon to reiterate the importance of Ukraine being at the centre of any negotiations to end the war, Downing Street said.Their call before an important week for both leaders highlights their desire to present a united European position against Russia’s aggression, after the US president launched extraordinary attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dismissing the president of Ukraine as a “dictator without elections”.The prime minister appeared determined to have vital discussions with allies before his Washington visit: he also spoke to Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, on Sunday night.Starmer and Rutte agreed “there could be no negotiations about Ukraine, without Ukraine”, and noted the importance of European leaders stepping up to ensure the security of the region, Downing Street said
Starmer condemns Farage and Reform UK for ‘fawning over Putin’
Keir Starmer has condemned Nigel Farage and Reform UK for talking the language of workers’ rights online but wanting to charge people to use the NHS and for “fawning over Putin”.The prime minister said Labour must be ready for the test Farage’s party presents, saying there had been a rise in “dangerous rightwing politics” and those who claim to be seeking to “tilt politics towards the interests of working people”.Speaking to the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Starmer announced a £200m investment for the Grangemouth oil refinery, which is expected to go towards creating a new industrial purpose for the site. It is scheduled to close in the summer with a loss of more than 400 jobs.However, the prime minister also used his address on Sunday to attack Reform UK’s politics, hours after the US president, Donald Trump, had praised Farage as a “great guy” when addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference at the National Harbor in Maryland
Keir Starmer pledges £200m for Grangemouth oil refinery site
Keir Starmer has announced £200m in funding to boost investment at Grangemouth oil refinery, which is closing down with the loss of more than 400 jobs.The prime minister said the national wealth fund would provide £200m in state investment for up to five companies who moved to Grangemouth, where several thousand jobs in the wider supply chain are also at risk. He said that should leverage up to £600m more in private investment.Speaking to reporters after his announcement at Scottish Labour’s annual conference, he rejected suggestions this had come too late for the scores of Grangemouth workers recently given redundancy notices, or those who will be laid off in the coming months.He said Labour had acted as quickly as it could, but it took time to work up a credible proposal
Starmer unlikely to unveil plan for rise in defence spending this week, says minister
Keir Starmer is unlikely to set out a plan this week for when the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, a cabinet minister has indicated.The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the target was ambitious, despite Labour previously claiming it would set out a path to meeting the spending goal after the strategic defence review in the spring.The prime minister will meet Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday amid strained relations between Washington and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.The US president added to the tensions on Friday when he said that Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, “haven’t done anything” to end the war in Ukraine, after his claims that Zelenskyy was a dictator
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