“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

About Claire Westall

Claire Westall is a Lecturer in English and Related Literature at the University of York

Articles by Claire Westall

Cricket, Empire and the BBC

Claire Westall 13 July 2012

Despite the sale of televised England home-matches from the BBC to commercial broadcasting, cricket remains central to collective imaginings of 'Englishness'. Recent attempts to situate the sport within the history of empire reveal much about the BBC's continuing ties to the ideology of state-led imperialism.

The Last Great British Summer for England

Michael Gardiner and Claire Westall 14 June 2012

The desperate construction of cultural Britishness observable in this summer's Jubilee and Olympics is just another attempt to conflate British identity with an idealised vision of England. The motivation for those in power is clear: to disguise the gaping constitutional issues that threaten the UK's political authority.

Literature of an Independent England

Claire Westall 4 November 2010

A gathering will consider the emergence of Englishness (or not)

This week's editor

Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

European debate

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Nuclear non-proliferation

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

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About Claire Westall

Articles by Claire Westall

Cricket, Empire and the BBC

The Last Great British Summer for England

Literature of an Independent England

This week's editor

Europe from the bottom up

European debate

Democratic Wealth

Nuclear non-proliferation

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

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