Truth Tellers and Righteous Indignation: Cornel West on Obama, "I am a hater"

Somi: The Lagos Music Salon

Mid-November on Barcelona beach

The mesmerising Flamenco Barcelona

Berlin in Autumn

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Kurfürstendamm U-Bahn

Yesterday in Barcelona...

The wonderful Kerry James Marshall in conversation with the legendary academic, Paul Gilroy about the inspiration behind his work currently on exhibition in Painting And Other Stuff at The Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona. A challenging and insightful evening.

Snapshots of the city

What I watched in Tornoto

Martin Scorsese's The 50 Year Argument and the all women created and produced High Society / Le Beau Monde are two great films I had the privilege to see at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Be sure to catch them when on general release.

A marvellous night amongst the stars at the magnificent Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

An electrifying ensemble performance of Gershwin's Porgy & Bess at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London, 22 August, 2014.

Inspirational Woolf exhibition at the NPG

A moving and insightful look at the life and influences of Virginia Woolf. The exhibition encompasses Woolf's family and upbringing, the Bloomsbury Group and the impact of the politics of the time on her work and thinking, London as inspiration and the creation of The Hogarth Press, and her lifelong battle against depression and ultimate suicide. A must-see. 

The National Portrait Gallery, London until 26 October, 2014.

Music and literature at The Hay Festival

The legendary Hugh Masekela

Hugh Masekela

Francisco Bettencourt

Francisco Bettencourt and Oscar Guardiola-Rivera

Anthony Giddens

The legendary Toni Morrison

The legendary Toni Morrison

Paradise aka Barbados

The mammoth Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Centre-Pompidou, Paris

From the Jiwar Facebook page

Post by Jiwar Creation & Society.

Ten things I’ve learnt in five days in Barcelona

1. Barcelonans love all things organic

Recommended: Woki Organic Market

2. Affordable food is everywhere
Recommended: Macchina, Origens, Veg World India

3. Wednesday is cinema night
Four euros for any film. Be warned, long queues!
Recommended: Cine Verdi

4. There’s an English language bookshop a three minute walk from my apartment that stocks a wide range of non-fiction and fiction.
Recommended: Hibernian Books, Carrer de Montseny 17, 08012

5. Catalan flags are everywhere!
Hanging from balconies, pasted onto lampposts and graffitied on walls.

6. Flamenco rules!
A packed out and intimate performance at Flamenco Barcelona featuring an hypnotic cantaor y cantaora, a tight three-piece band and a spellbinding bailaor.
Recommended: Flamenco Barcelona, Carrer Progres, Barcelona

7. Protest lives!
It seems wherever I go, protest follows me.
See: Stop Pujades Transport

8. Gaudi is great
So say the hundreds who queue to visit the master’s work.

9. Sex is out in the open
Billboards for call girls and escort services (sorry, no pictures, but they’re there on the motorway driving out from the airport into the city centre).

10. Do believe the hype
Barcelona is rightly known as the capital of culture and is called “inspirational.” For once, this isn’t just marketing flan.