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Will Self is a novelist, journalist and Professor of Contemporary Thought at Brunel University. He explains why he thinks Guy Debord, philosopher and author of ‘The Society of the Spectacle’ (published 50 years ago) would hate him. As well as examining what the text tells us about the ‘present moment’, he considers why so many seem to see it as an unusually prescient book. Self explains the difficulty of trying to define the ‘Spectacle’, and why, for him, the ‘Spectacle’ is the hero of the book; he suggests that Debord would have wanted his readers to take radical action to subvert the ‘Spectacle’.

Nick Harkaway reads a brand new piece of writing, ‘The Mist Bridge’, about a bridge that may or may not exist. Nick often uses uncanny place names in his writing which produce a sense of disorientation, and here he uses place names that sound ‘Londonish’ like Dartford Creek. Nick also talks about the idea of a culture where everything is transparent – Government and citizenry, an idea he explores in his new novel ‘Gnomon’, where something called the ‘System’ measures minds and bodies for our own convenience (William Heinemann).

The artist Paul Harfleet has been inspired to take back control of places and language that have been overshadowed by homophobia. As part of ‘, Paul has planted over 200 pansies at the site of homophobic attacks, quietly subverting and transforming each site. The project is accompanied by a website where you can find pictures of the pansies, which are all titled with the specific abuse they commemorate. Paul has also published a picture book, ‘Pansy Boy’,(Barbican Press) written in rhyming couplets, which shows a boy coping with being ‘policed’ by his schoolmates for his appearance and thoughtfulness. Paul wrote the book ‘for his seven year old self’. 

The first in a brand new series where poet and performer Hollie McNish introduces us to the best in new spoken word performance. This week Hollie is talking to Keisha Thompson. Keisha’s poetry is inspired by her Guyanese heritage, and her interest in maths. She performs an extract from her show which examines attitudes to body hair – ‘I wish I had A Moustache’, as well as an extract from her new show, ‘’, which she will perform at the Contact Theatre later this year.