ANDY HEDGECOCK picks out his cultural highlights of 2025
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Fighting spirit required
BEN LUNN draws attention to the desperate straits into which classical music is being pushed by a hack-and-slash government that cares nothing for the culture of the working class
HANGING BY A THREAD: An audience in Edinburgh appreciates an outstanding concert by the Estonian National Orchestra last weekend
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Star cartoonist MALC MCGOOKIN finds lessons for today in the punch, and the economy of line, of an extraordinary generation of illustrators
LEO BOIX, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Dreamers, It Was Just An Accident, Folktales, and Eternity
JENNY MITCHELL, poetry co-editor for the Morning Star, introduces her priorities, and her first selection
HENRY BELL is sceptical of the notion that ‘progress’ is an ideology that the ruling class uses exclusively to camouflage appropriation
In search of political understanding, MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes a critique of anti-semitism as codified by the Israeli state
BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution
SHORTLY after the announcement of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Organisations (NPO), I wrote in the Morning Star about the questionable choices which ultimately were a hack-and-slash at the arts and warned about the negative connotations which were going to follow.
Since then, there have been many developments and announcements – including Glyndebourne and Welsh National Opera reducing touring, English National Opera making some developments but still without anything completely finalised, and the Oldham Coliseum permanently closing its doors.
On May 5, the North-West Psappha Ensemble announced that due to the 100 per cent funding cut from the Arts Council, which made up 40 per cent of their overall annual income, they were unable to overcome the deficit and will be permanently closing when they finish their “Composing for…” series and completely shut up shop in the summer.
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In advance of their performances in London BEN LUNN speaks to PETER PAUL KAINRATH, artistic director of Klangforum Wien