The Suite (212) Sessions, no. 3 - Owen Hatherley

In the wake of the coronavirus epidemic and shutting down of much of the UK's cultural life, we have decided to bring you a series of interviews with contemporary artists, writers, filmmakers and other cultural figures, conducted via Skype (so apologies for the diminished audio quality), about their practices, the political issues that inspire them and the socio-economic conditions that have shaped their work. In the third of these Sessions, Juliet talks to London-based writer Owen Hatherley, editor of Tribune magazine’s culture section, about the blogging circle in which he began writing in the mid-2000s; his experiences of writing about politics and culture in broadsheet newspapers and magazines; the appalling state of the British media and the venal, unserious nature of many of its contributors; the relationship between arts and culture writing and the British left, including the Labour Party, and how culture can continue to be politically useful to a socialist project. A full list of references for the programme, with links, can be found via our Patreon at www.patreon.com/suite212, and are available to $3 subscribers.