A submerged population

Ray Lawrence's film "Jindabyne", an adaptation of a short story by Raymond Carver, addresses sexual politics and latent racism embedded in contemporary Australian culture, writes Will Brady. [more]

The bread and meat of life

Since Poland's accession to the EU, around 200 000 Polish workers are registered in the UK, with as many again estimated to be employed in the shadow economy. One reason for their choice may be that Poles are attracted to societies in which an established meritocracy operates. Yet, as is the case in Edinburgh, Polish immigration is also reviving community values. [more]

Imminent ruin and desperate remedy

Calcutta and its fragments

Calcutta's longstanding communist government is ingratiating the city to Western investors. By evicting squatters and street vendors from public spaces in the name of sanitation and Western norms, it is robbing Calcutta of its vital tradition of urban commons. [more]

Weeds and wild flowers

Political tourism in west Belfast

During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, journalists would jump into taxis and ask to be taken to the fighting. Now it's political tourists eager for the scenes of past battles. But are taxi drivers qualified to be their guides? [more]

Miss Plumb

"Female missionaries have largely failed to capture the interest of historians. Their modesty has been mistaken for insignificance, their evangelizing for an embarrassing footnote in the story of empire." On the anything but dull life of Isabella Plumb, missionary in India 1882-1925. [more]