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Paintings that are a monument to regal vanity and excess

The Royal Academy has reunited some of Charles I’s art collection. There is lots to admire but it’s not enough to lose your head over

Altered Carbon is visually impressive, though gives in to cliche and sexist violence

Netflix’s latest sci-fi offering shows a future where a human’s mind is stored in a disc in the back of their neck, called a stack.

A Woman’s Place doesn’t seem to know its purpose

This exhibition seems to pose a question in its title, but offers no clear answers or analysis.

Young soul rebels fighting Israeli apartheid with music

47Soul are unapologetically political.

Andreas Gursky the anti-capitalist?

The Haywood gallery is hosting the first ever major retrospective of acclaimed German photographer Andreas Gursky.

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Anti-apartheid campaigner Hugh Masekela’s legacy

Rehad Desai looks at the life of the most influential artist of the anti-apartheid movement and argues that it can inspire people fighting for a better world

Twilight—a poignant reworking of a play that exposes injustice

Martin Luther King said that riots are the language of the unheard—this play expresses that.

Go and see The Post, but it isn’t quite first class viewing

The Pentagon Papers exposed the US lies about Vietnam by successive governments. The battle to publish them could be gripping, says?Sam Lorde

Kiri veers into cliche but is still a worthwhile watch

But it does show what social workers face whenever something goes wrong—with an underlying political row

Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, paints a dark picture of US society

This film is a dry, dark satire which pulls questions about the nature of humanity, good and evil, redemption and salvation out of its cowboy hat.

The Cotton Famine

This new pamphlet tells the story of how textile workers in Lancashire came to support the abolition of slavery in the US.

Edgar Degas’s contradictions and shock value

An exhibition of drawings by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) is an excellent introduction to the work of one of the most influential artists of the 19th century.

McMafia brings the bosses’ infighting to our TV screens

McMafia grapples with the differences between “good” and “bad” capitalism—and makes thrilling drama at the same time.

Theatre highlights for 2018

The Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art, signed by French writer André Breton and Mexican painter Diego Rivera was published in 1938.

Human Flow brings out the human stories behind the refugee crisis

Behind the numbers which dominate the refugee crisis lie millions of untold stories. Artist Ai Weiwei’s film Human Flow brings them out, writes Sally Kincaid

Bjork’s album Utopia is based on struggle, not escapist fantasy

In her 30 years in the music industry, Bjork has always pushed boundaries.

Nae Pasaran—Scots who defied Pinochet

In 1974 workers at the Rolls-Royce engine factory in East Kilbride refused to work on engines used by the Chilean air force.

Dancehall—The Rise of Jamaican Dancehall Culture

On the back of the huge commercial success of reggae in the 1970s, a new breed of producers and MCs sought to update the music for the 80s.

Why save capitalism? It should be put out of its misery

Former US president Bill Clinton’s secretary for labor Robert Reich thinks inequality is too high and that the rich should pay more tax. He endorsed Bernie Sanders for president.