🧭 Cultural Compass #18
A round-up of culture influencing my navigation of life: Elections
Welcome to new subscribers, and welcome back regular readers, to the
’s Cultural Compass column. Each month I share a round-up of recently consumed culture (usually books, podcasts, articles; sometimes TV, and other miscellaneous items) that in some way have had an impact on my thinking around navigating life.When these first started, it was a smorgasbord of stories, but from issue #11 onwards became centred around a different theme each time. This month - elections. Promise it won’t be boring...
📑 Stateside Sentiment
Though I’m in the UK, I’m kicking off with a piece focused on the US that I stumbled across recently by the magic of Substack Notes, and found myself nodding away to the whole time I was reading. Writing about something to believe in,
signs off with a call to imagine voting Kamala Harris for President. To acknowledge that Harris is the beacon of light in what is again a rather tumultuous time in American politics.But her piece is about so much more than Harris. Or Biden. Or Trump. It’s about democracy. How we live. What we feel we can say. What we feel we can fight for.
Hough and I have had different life experiences; my only reference for the Air Force is Top Gun, and I couldn’t navigate cables if my life depended on it. Sounds like we can both pull a pint though, so there’s that. But the sentiment she writes about, of how people talk about other people, of how one group labels another, almost entirely forgetting we are in fact all human, is something I feel all too familiar with. Hearing that talk where I grew up. Hearing it while studying politics, with people who were supposedly more worldly. In the workplace. On the street. But is it not the case we are all striving for something better than what we currently have, even if that journey and end point might look very different? Can we find some understanding?
Some understanding for why someone isn’t as engaged with the issues we feel are critical to the future of the country. Or our personal freedoms. Or the state of a local economy. Why some people might not take the time to read in full before commenting. They don’t always have the time, as Hough points out. But we cannot dismiss each other for not acting, or believing, as we may think each other should. Not when “democracy is at stake.”
And on that note, I have been guilty of something highlighted in this piece too, which incidentally also came up at a live podcast show I was at this week. Not “shaming” as Hough talks of, but indeed guilty of ignoring, or perhaps playing down, the “concern that the goddamn leader of the free world doesn’t seem entirely there anymore.” Scared of what might happen if “we”, or really American voters, don’t get behind the presidential candidate that is least likely to turn the world, let alone the free world, upside down.
But what if it’s not just a case of A or B. What if we can choose something new. Different. Better. More exciting. What if we let ourselves believe it, and rally around the idea. That there could this year be a ballot paper that lists Kamala Harris as the presidential candidate for the Democrats?
I’ve no voting rights for that upcoming November election, but still feel like I’ve got skin in the game. Because what happens there affects what happens here. And, really, everywhere.
There was a lot in this
piece that made me think, and, whatever your politics, it might have the same effect on you too. And don’t just take my word for it... included it in yesterday’s curation too.📑 New Horizons
Bridging the pond having lived on both sides, Zadie Smith reminisced for The Guardian, the day before our fourth of July election here in the UK, tales of speaking to American crowds about the social security afforded to UK citizens by way of taxes … over 20 years ago when that security was actually a reality. Fast forward to recent years, where many have struggled to cover the rent, or afford a dentist appointment, a country that once seemed like somewhat of a utopia is now financially on it’s knees. But a brighter future could be on the cards, Smith suggests, if the Labour party, who recently won the UK election, proceed to govern on the basis of which the party was founded.
I, like many, lap up Zadie Smith’s writing, especially her non-fiction work. This article, though political, includes some incredible metaphors that make it a wonderful nod to her storytelling. I particularly enjoyed a section on the notion that the country has been casually dating the Labour party these past few months. And now, there’s no wondering what the response would be to a text asking, “U up?”
Was I happy with the election result? Absolutely. Do I think, in an ideal world, if we weren’t afraid to ask for something more, it’s the best we can get? Of course not. Kier Starmer, the UK’s shiny new Prime Minister, has been on my radar since his days as Director of Public Prosecutions. As a student of A Level Law, I would read quotes and judgements he made to include in my essays. Though I saw him then as someone to look up to, now I’m more aware of how much his politics leaves to be desired. But I can’t help but share Smith’s optimism, that change is on the horizon. That, although like Lauren Hough I’m not a member of any party, the presence of a Labour party in government means something. Means building back up what I, and others, in and outside of the echo chamber I sometimes find myself in, feel has been lost.
A slight aside but relatedly, earlier this year I went to watch Nye at the National Theatre, and found the show unexpectedly moving as it charted the rise of Aneurin Bevan, and ultimately the birth of the NHS, from the values and virtues of community care in the South Wales Valleys. And it is such virtues I think Smith perhaps refers to, that the Labour party were founded on, and that offer hope for the future.
📑 Mixing and Mingling
Offering a critical but still, I think, hopeful response to the electing of a new PM, in an article for
this week, Selin Bucak, who also co-writes , focused on what a new government could mean for immigration. In a recent essay I referenced the ridiculousness of the “Rwanda policy”, and the “hostile environment” approach honestly makes me shudder with despair. Immigration policy is really a key point of reference for how we want to be seen as a country.Personally, my life would be much less rich without the joyful opportunities of immigration. I wouldn’t have met my partner. Or shared special moments with a good friend as maid of honour at her wedding. Or had the pleasure of meeting colleagues who became friends, who yes were born here, but bring to my life the insights and richness of experience of having parents who were born in another land. The restaurant scene would of course be far less exciting too. And not only in London; I will forever maintain that the Indian takeaway in the village I grew up does the BEST mint sauce, and peshwari naan.
But, as Bucak explains, Starmer hasn’t always offered the most promising outlook on immigration, and at this point in time, a “more humane system” is needed. It was also a topic that he was called out on by Zing Tsjeng in a profile for Vogue earlier this year, as she was “struck by the distance between Starmer the person and his policies.” Recently republished online, at the time I thought the profile was a bit of an odd choice for Edward Enninful’s final print issue, but in hindsight perhaps it was an explicit editorial decision to leave us with the kind of hope Zadie Smith wrote of for The Guardian; albeit without ignoring some clouds over that sun on the horizon.
Time will tell what the current political situation on both sides of the Atlantic has in store for the future of our nations, and indeed global politics. But for now, let’s be hopeful, shall we?
… and if you’re in need of a bit of light relief amongst all the latest shenanigans, look no further than
’s Election Batshittery for some lolling at the polling.If you liked this piece and would like to show some support without a paid subscription, a Ko-fi coffee is always appreciated.☕
I’ve been saving this
sticker for my musings, meanderings and methods only, but as this Cultural Compass appears to be an essay of essays, with reflections on the personal as well as the political, it feels right to round off with a note of gratitude for the encouragement to write from and the 24 Essays Club community. ✨
I loved reading this - and thrilled to get a mention. I thought the exact same about the Starmer Vogue piece - kinda like, huh? But yeah - I kinda get it now (I think!) x