Product Magazine
Cocaine for the kids
Katherine Hill’s timely book offers parents practical advice to help children negotiate the digital world, writes Alex Borthwick
Making the case for the retention of chickens
A short story by MD Hamilton
Dark horse
As Bojack Horseman heads for the knackers’ yard, Stephanie Provan salutes the show’s defiant demands on its audience
History Maker
Alistair Braidwood who worked as a secretary for Alasdair Gray, and was an editor on ‘Of Me & Others’, pays tribute to a brilliant, kind and peerless polymath
Books of 2019
Alan McCredie on a truly timeless classic
Books of 2019
Petra Reid on a radical ’60s classic still relevant today
Picture this
Hollywood still uses women as adornments, but 2019 saw a raft of believable female characters light up our screens, writes Stephanie Provan
All of this and nothing
Sarah Busby on innocence, idealism and her first love: the Psychedelic Furs
De Palma
A new documentary examines the work of one of the most influential players in modern US cinema, writes Robert Gallacher
This Life
Jamie Robson on how he grew from bumbling teen to film lead. Interview by Patrick Small
How I write
By Amy Jardine
The Clamour
A short story by Kirsti Wishart
Best of EIFF
Victor Eaves surveys the festival’s short film strand
Best of EIFF
Victor Eaves surveys the festival’s finest shorts
Best of EIFF
Victor Eaves surveys the festival’s short film strand
Nothing ever goes to plan
Review by Victor Eaves
(G)if
A poem by Anna Blainey, inspired by Rudyard Kipling
Hope and despair
The highly lauded Nell Zink is one of many US writers considering the challenges of activism today, but her work lacks one vital element, writes Sibylla Kalid
Fire Escape in the sky
Did a percipient Scouse maverick secure Scott Walker’s place in pop history? asks Neil Cooper
Idiot Wind
A former UK ambassador to the EU lays out the clusterfuck that follows a retreat from reality, writes Ronnie McCluskey
You are the product
Shoshana Zuboff’s treatise “Surveillance Capitalism” warns how big data commodifies us all, writes Nik Williams
Soldier -Talk
Neil Cooper unearths The Red Crayola’s great lost album and post-punk’s missing link
Checkmate Savage
The Phantom Band’s genre defying debut is as thrilling as the day it was released in 2009, writes Neil Cooper
World book trip
Which novel would you recommend to someone who had never read a word written in your country? The first stop on our tour is Scotland, where Alan Warner highlights James Kelman’s astonishing Kieron Smith, boy
The Sheets
A poem by Cara L McKee
Altered image
Sceptical of the form, Sara Lally is won over by three of 2018’s most intriguing graphic novels
Lost girls
Author Mick Kitson tells Sibylla Archdale Khalid how he conjured Sal, one of the most compelling literary characters of 2018
Rip it up
Scotland has a richly diverse and inventive musical history from Lonnie Donegan to Young Fathers. Test your Scottish pop knowledge in our quiz
Reading by Amy Jardine
Amy Jardine will read her work this Thursday in Edinburgh
A ripple from the storm
Brilliant and uncompromising, Doris Lessing inspired Amy Jardine to conquer fear, start writing and live a fuller life
I invited him
A magnificently dark tale of obsession. By Vhairi Slaven
World Book Trip
If you could only recommend one novel from your country, which would it be? Ana Iliescu salutes Mircea Cartarescu’s Orbitor, a triumph of Romanian literature
Another News Story
A moving documentary turns the camera on itself to examine the relationship between corporate media and the human tragedy on which it feeds. By Tamara Abdi
Rusty West
A poem by Jamie Robson
Redoubtable
Godard’s haters rub it in and run away, writes Victor Eaves
Lolita’s secret codes
Stanley Kubrick didn’t cram all his conspiracy theories into The Shining, writes Victor Eaves
We love you
In the first of a series of letters to artists who inspired them, author Kirsty Logan salutes singer Kathleen Hanna.
The coming of the Techni-Quarks
A new poem by Stuart A. Paterson
Forever now
David Hare believes Netflix and Amazon have ushered in another golden age for screen writers. By Victor Eaves
I Have Fallen In Love With The Forth Bridge
A poem by Keith Armstrong
Meeting Jim
A new documentary about a key character in the story of the Edinburgh Festival gets lost in plodding self-importance, writes Victor Eaves
Still waters
Daisy Johnson talks to Naomi Richards about the power of myths, metamorphis and the art of writing her new novel.
Over the wall
Victor Eaves on a moving documentary about the Israeli Palestinian conflict
Blind vision
Is HyperNormalisation journalism or entertainment? Sibylla Kalid sifts through the arguments
Down the rabbit hole
Live action updates of Disney classics are a pale imitation of the originals, and only one shall go the ball, writes Nathanael Smith
Testing times
Against international evidence about its negative effect, the Scottish government has introduced testing throughout the education system, beginning at Primary 1. Sue Palmer sets ministers their own test
Mister Malcontent
Bill Hicks has been derided as an anti-corporate fanatic, UFO devotee and gun fetishist. But what he would really have hated is being described as the lost saviour of stand-up, writes Allan Brown
Wild Devotion
Jade Starmore, a photographer and textile designer from the Hebrides, creates wearable art inspired by the Scottish landscape
The end of the habitable world
A short story by Tracey Emerson
Game, set and match
An appreciation of the 1969 film The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie by Alistair Braidwood
She Punks
Sam Knee talks to Neil Cooper about Untypical Girls, his new book about pioneering all-female bands from post punk to riot grrrl
Johnny Cash’s stepdaughter gave me a kiss
A new short story by Naomi Richards
Denise Johnson
Ahead of two Scottish dates, velvet-voiced soul singer Denise Johnson talks to Neil Coooper about her new album of acoustic covers of Manchester bands
Silent Spring
Set in a near-future Earth devastated by global warming, The Book of Joan is a rare attempt to deal with a colossal issue. Sybilla Archdale Kalid on why climate change can’t be contained in modern literature
The Divided Self
Artist Sekai Machache explores ideas of identity and self.
Hip priest
Neil Cooper on four decades of the contrary, belligerent and brilliant Mark E Smith
Lux Lives!
Nine years since he left the party, an exuberant annual celebration of the Cramps’ colourful frontman is still in full swing, writes Paul Robinson
A big big love
They may be ambivalent to one another, but the Pixies’ music is still adored as the documentary charting their reunion reveals. By Alastair McKay
Adventures close to home
Alistair Braidwood talks to Viv Albertine, legendary guitarist with pioneering all-girl group the Slits.
Those to whom evil is done
Chris Harvie on warnings from history and the shitstorm to come
Dance away
Jannica Honey met strippers on their way to and from work in their dressing room
Bdy-Prts
@Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh.
December 2nd. By Neil Cooper
Faust
@Summerhall, Edinburgh. November 29. By Neil Cooper
History repeats
Did the former Stoke MP lift sections of a long ago OU book for his 2004 historical tome? One of the original authors Chris Harvie finds it oddly familiar
Pussy Riot
Pussy Riot Theatre: Riot Days. @Glasgow Art School. Nov 21. Review by Neil Cooper
I Sing The Body Electric
Jola Sopek’s intimate portraits of everyday life elevate the banal into something beautiful and infinite
High Times
The creators of Britain’s first counter cultural paper talk to Neil Cooper about their new visual catalogue of the ’60s radical underground press
Wire
@Mash House, Edinburgh. Monday November 6. Review by Neil Cooper
Passion play
Author Malcolm Devlin discusses fairy tales, genre-jumping and placating restless stories with Naomi Richards
Beyond Rock and Roll
Neil Cooper on the tireless invention of post punk visionary Vic Godard
Michael Head and the Red Elastic Band
@Oran Mor, Glasgow. October 5. By Neil Cooper
Sing choirs of angels
Communal singing is uplifting and radical, veteran post punk Boff Whalley tells Neil Cooper
Room 29
@King’s Theatre, Edinburgh. August 24. By Neil Cooper
Jenny Hval
@ Summerhall. August 20th. Review by Neil Cooper
Live review
Very Cellular Songs – The Music of The Incredible String Band. Playhouse, Edinburgh. By Neil Cooper
Speed of life
Alistair Braidwood is charmed by a book of recollections from Bowie fans and collaborators
Live review
PJ Harvey: The Hope Six Demolition Project. Playhouse, Edinburgh. By Neil Cooper
Here comes the summer
Neil Cooper on the year’s most unashamedly joyous record
Hope and despair
The Glasgow-based chanteuse has produced a remarkable treatise on love, loss and redemption, writes Alistair Braidwood
Here comes the sun
Sound of Yell’s third release is a woozy slice of summer joy, writes Neil Cooper
Live Review
F For Fake – The Secret Goldfish, Spectorbullets, The Sexual Objects. Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, June 24. By Neil Cooper
Live Review
Japanese New Music Festival, Summerhall, Edinburgh. Sunday June 18th. By Neil Cooper
Platonic Dialogue
A story by Teo Rivera-Dundas
Draw you in
Graham Domke previews the new Rob Churm show at Glasgow’s CCA
Live Review
Damo Suzuki’s Network, Mash House, Edinburgh, Scotland. By Neil Cooper
Album review
Indie-pop survivors resurface with a record rich in off-kilter charm, writes Neil Cooper
Album review
Former Soup Dragon returns with a second instalment of inspired dance floor euphoria, writes Neil Cooper
Billy Wilder
Arch,camp and supremely talented, Billy Mackenzie would have been sixty this week. Graham Domke celebrates Scotland’s Scott Walker
Here comes the sun
Product writers choose their favourite summer songs to brighten the darkest sky
Pick up the pieces
Neil Cooper on a new collection of instrumentals exploring the shadows of Dundee’s changing urban landscape
Cmon feel the neuz
Neil Cooper on the beat/punk roots of Neu! Reekie!
Here come the men in pants
Neil Cooper on the return of the lustrous Special Love
Live Review
Public Service Broadcasting: The Race for Space Live. Usher Hall, Edinburgh. By Neil Cooper
Album review
Glasgow’s talented all girl gang banish twee with a soaring fusion of indie and bubblegum, writes Neil Cooper
All around the world
With three films out this year, exile-turned-actor Jamie Robson is on the brink of a big screen breakthrough
The Daily Hate
Sibylla Kalid discusses ethics with the founder of a campaign to discourage corporations advertising in tabloids which pedal racial prejudice
Album review
Creeping Bent stalwarts return with a sublime collection of shimmering indie pop, writes Neil Cooper
Live Review
Karate Priest, Rhubaba, Leith. By Hugo Fluendy
Live Review
Mick Harvey, Summerhall, Edinburgh. By Neil Cooper
Shining
A poem by Cara L McKee