Penny Red

I'm not very around at the moment, as I'm dealing with a new job and juggling work and book deadlines whilst trying my hardest not ...

Write about female objectification in the comment pages of any major paper and you're in for a pasting. No matter how reasonably you pu...

I don't normally do this, but I'm posting this verbatim from Mara, the convenor of the UK's Abortion Support Network, which prov...

"Science fiction is a laboratory of thought experiments," says Ken MacLeod, sipping his coffee. The 55-year-old Scottish novelist...

Like any science fiction writer, lots of Ken MacLeod's prophetic visions have failed to come true. However, one thing he did foresee, as...

... here's the bit where I'm impolite. So last night, two hundred well-dressed members of the British literary...

Penny Red has made the shortlist for the Orwell Prize for blogs, along with Jack of Kent , Hopi Sen , Winston Smith, Tim Marshall and the ...

Positive engagement with the digital generation interests the political classes only when they want something fro...

David Cameron has this week expressed the intention to slash the time limit on legal termination of pregnancy from 24 to '22 or 20'...

Where the hell are we gonna live... where the hell are we supposed to live? The Levellers The battle buses are rolling, the Tory jets are f...

Or is this more likely to make wavering Tories vote Labour than the other way around? I actually tremble before the strategic brilliance of ...

A few nights ago, I attended the Hauntology debate at Cafe Oto in Dalston. It was packed with twenty-somethings wearing brogues, drinking o...

As those with the dubious good fortune of knowing me in the meatspace will be aware: I'm writing a book. Specifically, I've signed a...

For feminists, arguments about sex work have become an ugly, obstructive shibboleth. The debate about whether feminism can ever tolerate t...

In thumpingly exciting news, this blog has been nominated for The Orwell Prize 2010. Gosh. I don't know quite what else to say. It's...

I wrote an article for New Statesman online , all about the Digital Economy Bill and creativity. I'm pleased with it. Customers who enj...

For months, my head has been jammed with anger and ideas about the Digital Economy Bill that's in the last stages of being rushed throug...

The anti-objectification protest outside the Miss University London beauty pageant finals on Tuesday was the sort of event you really only s...

I can absolutely understand why many people around my age don't want to vote in the upcoming elections , as long as they can understand ...