The big end of year roundup post

Hello and welcome to this years end of year roundup post! 

It goes without saying that 2020 has been a very weird and frequently upsetting year, and it is because of Covid that there's no gigs category in this years lists. When I looked back at last years list I realised that I didn't include a gigs list last year either,  but that this was due to the opposite problem: An abundance of riches rather than the desert of live there's been this year. 

I'd have to be more than optimistic to be thinking about what might or might not happen to live music in 2021, so I won't make any promises about a best gigs list for next year either. We will have to see. 

Hopefully you'll find some interesting things to listen to and read amongst what follows. As has been the case over the past couple of years, I will be running my songs of the year as individual blog posts counting down over the next few weeks, starting from tomorrow.

Albums of the year 

12) Half Waif, The Caretaker

11) Katy J Pearson, Return

10) Nadine Shah, Kitchen Sink

9) Emmy The Great, April / 月音

8) Laura Marling, Song For Our Daughter

7) North Americans, Roped In

6) Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters

5) Kelly Lee Owens, Inner Song

4) Jess Williamson, Sorceress

3) Overcoats, The Fight

2) Harkin, Harkin

1) Allie X, Cape God

12 books I've read and loved this year

Pierce, Tamora, Tortall and other lands

Hillis, Marjorie, Orchids on your budget

Ben Moor, More Trees To Climb

Davis, Caitlin, Bad Girls: a history of rebels and renegades

Collins, Bridget, The Binding

Fisher, Carrie, The Princess Diarist

Shafak, Elif, Black milk: on motherhood and writing

Rubenhold, Hallie, The Five: the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper

Peters, Ellis, Dead Man's Ransom

Haynes, Natalie, A Thousand Ships

Ribchester, Lucy, The Hourglass Factory

Banine, Days in the Caucasus

12 classic podcast serials and episodes from 2020

Podcasts have really come into their own this year, with audio production seemingly proving easier to finesse in a lockdown environment than audio-visual productions. As such, it goes without saying that there's been some really good podcasts this year, and that many of them have some kind of Covid related link. The BBC World Service's, Coronavirus Global Update was established in March 2020 with the specific intention of processing and distributing information about the pandemic, and while rarely included in lists of Covid podcasts, has been quietly punching above its weight ever since.

Similarly, the existing US design podcast 99% Invisible made some great pandemic related content this year, including their episode about China and East Asia's relationship with face masks ('Masking for a friend') and a delightfully quirky episode about the history of toilet paper in the form of their 'Wipe Out' episode.

Page 94: The Private Eye Podcast did a good summary of their print Covid coverage in their 'COVID-19' episode, while work podcast Is This Working? looked at redundancy and unemployment in their episode  'At risk: Our job loss stories'. Ideas podcast Reasons To Be Cheerful looked at a number of pandemic related issues throughout the year but their episode on the current parlous state of the music industry, 'Sweet streams aren't made of this', was particularly strong. 

Tech podcast Reply All devoted an episode to the QAnon conspiracy in 'Country of liars' [If you'd like to pair this with another good podcast covering a related story, you could do worse than listen to Page 94's episode 'US Election Fake News Special'] and the BBC ran a series, Two Minutes Past Nine, that looked at the long shadow of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The BBC also gave us the highly compelling investigative podcast series Girl Taken, which revisited a well reported case that emerged during the 2015 refugee crisis and revealed a very different picture to what was originally thought.  

At the more quirky end of history, new podcast We Are History gave us an episode on 'The British Invasion of Iceland 1940', which is well worth a listen. I can also heartily recommend the episode on the Suez Crisis, if only for the opportunity to hear one of the key political players being described as "Off his tits on amphetamines". I think that tells you what kind of history podcast you're dealing with. 

Film wise, there's been nothing to touch Best Pick this year, even on the episodes they had to record over Zoom from three different locations. Their episodes on  'The Apartment' and 'Tom Jones' were particularly fine. 

12 articles I've enjoyed this year [Non-Covid stories]

The Invisible Boy Who Became Mr Invincible (Aram Balakjian, Narratively)

The tragedy of the climate dildos (Emily Atkin, Heated)

The children with no voice, the women who spoke up for them and those in power who wouldn't listen (Jennifer Williams, Manchester Evening News)

My secret life tracking down debtors (Angela Lundberg, Narratively)

The pied piper is a victim of the gig economy (Sentimental Garbage)

The infinite heartbreak of loving Hong Kong (Wilfred Chan, The Nation)

Good Teens With Guns (Hengtee Lim (Snippets), Medium)

We Need To Rethink Our 'Pics Or It Didn't Happen' Approach To Activism (Yomi Adegoke, Vogue)

What Happened In Bethel, Ohio? (Anne Helen Petersen, Buzzfeed News)

Taiwanese laundry-modelling grandparents are surprise Instagram hit (Cindy Sui, BBC News)

Food for thought: Change, The Clash and clootie dumplings as Murray focuses on a reboot (Murray Chalmers, The Courier)

The Writers Who Want to Get Americans to Talk to Each Other Again (Julia Métraux, Narratively)

12 articles I've enjoyed this year [Covid stories]

Coronavirus: Miss England returning to her job as an NHS junior doctor (BBC News)

The coronavirus cruise: onboard the Diamond Princess (Joshua Hunt, 1843)

The last days of school (Charlotte Lastoweckyi, Charlottes World)

Where you're out of work makes all the difference in the world (Clio Chang, Vice)

'The way we get through this is together' The rise of mutual aid under coronavirus (Rebecca Solnit, The Guardian)

The Quarantined Hippies Trapped in a Jungle Paradise (Alden Wicker, Narratively)

The inside story of Britain's fight against covid-19 (Simon Akam, 1843)

How to be punk in a pandemic (Dawson Barrett, Waging Non Violence)

Tune in, drop out (Ann Babe, Rest Of World)

Stolen bodies, a conspiracy theory and riots that gripped Liverpool in the time of cholera (The Mill)

'By May I'd made over £1,000': teen entrepreneurs defy the Covid slump (Lily Canter, The Guardian)

The inside story of how students took on the University of Manchester - and won (Mollie Simpson, The Mill)

First picture by Denise Karis on Unsplash

Second picture by Fallon Michael on Unsplash

Third picture by Mehrnegar Dolatmand on Unsplash

Fourth photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash

Fifth photo by Pavel Nekoranec on Unsplash

Christine and the Queens - Girlfriend (Glastonbury 2019)

While it's not possible to watch Chris's full 2019 Glastonbury set over on YouTube, you can watch the live session she did for KEXP at Home during the Paris lockdown earlier this year. Watch it in full here.

Lockdown reads: Great journalism and writing you might have missed, part 8 (July 2020)

As the fallout from George Floyd's death and Black Lives Matter protests continued, a number of stories this month have shone a light on the ways race, and racism, can interact with other inequalities and forms of prejudice. Vicky Spratt, the I's housing reporter, wrote a powerful piece about tenants rights in informal renting situations and how they intersected with poor housing and health stats for BAME communities in the UK. 

Journalist Marvarine Duffy gave an enlightening and powerful interview to BJTC about why BAME journalists need to be being hired as journalists, not 'diversity hires'. If you want to read more about the number of BAME journalists in the UK who are quitting newsrooms, you can do so here. 

In a related journalism note, and also what feels very much like a case of making something positive from a negative situation, a London woman is launching a couple of magazines for young black boys and girls.

Over in the US, Buzzfeed News asked What Happened In Bethel, Ohio? scene of one of the most vicious stand offs between BLM protesters and hard right nationalist protesters. This is a thoughtful, unexpected piece, and the demographics of it may well surprise you. And sadden you. 

Two UK publications who have been providing particularly insightful, and helpful, coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, both in the UK and around the world have been Private Eye (who have turned their coverage of the UK pandemic over to their medical columnist MD, aka Dr Phil Hammond) and New Scientist, who have covered the pandemic with appropriate levels of dignity and scientific dispassion. Private Eye publish a limited amount of their magazine content online, but I would recommend a subscription to them if you can. You can find details on their website. This month New Scientist wrote a thoughtful piece about grief and Covid-19, and explained why Covid-19 is making both HIV and malaria outbreaks more deadly.

I often find, especially in the past four months, that friends and family don't really understand how the press, and journalism, works. There is a tendency to see only the bad in the profession (and there certainly are plenty of examples of bad journalism) but, given the extremely parlous financial state journalism is in at the moment, I would urge you to ignore and not give oxygen to clickbait, and to champion instead those organisations who I would deem strong examples of 'responsible journalism'. As well as Private Eye and New Scientist, I'd add to this list The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, who - this month - published their investigation into Europe's response to coronavirus. Since this investigation was published, EU ombudsman have launched an inquiry into failings around Covid-19. 

I'd also include 1843, a division of The Economist, who published this harrowing but necessary long read on the Covid-19 pandemic in London, as seen through the eyes of doctors, nurses and paramedics. If you'd like to hear more from hospital staff about what it's really been like during the pandemic, I would also recommend listening to The Coronavirus Frontline Special over on BBC Sounds. The original series, The Coronavirus Frontline, was recorded by a doctor at Bradford Royal Infirmary on his smartphone, then edited into programmes by the BBC World Service. It was broadcast in March, April and May. This special episode acts as a catch up, filling you in on what's been happening at the hospital since May. 

The Economist has been hit hard by the economic fallout from the pandemic, and usually its digital content is only viewable if you have a subscription, they have, however, made their Covid coverage free, but you do have to register to view it. 

In other Covid related news, my old editor at CityMetric, Jonn Elledge, is doing sterling work at the New Statesman with this piece about politicians and their failure to wear face masks while on the publicity trail.  He's also been asking why the government won't extend the ban on rental evictions. 

The issue of masks has caused a lot of debate (to put it politely) in the UK, and beyond. One of the saddest stories to read this month was the tale of Phillippe Monguillot, a French bus driver, who died after being attacked by passengers on his bus who refused to wear face masks. 

In other Covid related news, independent fact checkers Full Fact have formally raised their concerns about inaccurate testing data with the regulatory authorities. The Independent ran a harrowing story about five women who were found dead in Doncaster in the space of two months, giving a face to anonymous figures about the increase in domestic violence in the UK under lockdown. Garment workers overseas have been impoverished by the cancellation of orders without financial compensation to suppliers by UK fashion brands, as the blog Treehugger reports. 

Much has been written about e-scooters and 'micro mobility' travel of late as various countries around the world seek to ease lockdown and find ways to transport a public who have been frightened off public transport but who no one wants to see take to cars en masse. Paris Marx at CityMetric provides a detailed analysis as to how helpful e scooters and e bikes will be in the months and years to come. 

Those of you in the UK will be aware that Greater Manchester, parts of Lancashire and parts of Yorkshire were put back into lockdown at midnight on 30th July. The announcement itself was made by Matt Hancock, the health secretary, three hours beforehand, on Twitter. 

In the chaos, rage and general resigned fed up-ness that ensued, Hold The Front Page pointed out that it was local newspapers who the confused and angry general public turned to in seeking information. Jennifer Williams, Politics and investigations editor at the Manchester Evening News, tweeted their story, with the comment that maybe the Johnson administration should factor in the local press when making sudden policy reverse ferrets late at night. 

Muslim residents in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire were particularly annoyed by the suddenness of the decision, not just because it was taken and implemented just as Eid celebrations were due to start, leading many to ask "Would they have done this at 9pm on Christmas Eve?" but also because some politicians, like this councillor, have been blaming BAME communities for the rise in cases. Making for a tense and angry past couple of days all round. 

Expect more on the fallout from the new lockdown next month.

Over in Japan, they're trialling a number of autonomous robots in service sectors, partly for Covid-19 reasons, partly because they were thinking of doing it anyway. You can read about the convenience store robot here and the fast food robot here. The Tokyo Olympics might be off for this year (and many suspect will never be held in 2021) but the wearable air conditioning device created for the games has launched. Oh, and the UK government is having chats with Japan about 5G. If you're interested in reading more stories about Japan, I recommend you subscribe to the Tékuni newsletter, which is all about Japan, usually from a tech based angle. 

I've a couple of music stories for you this month, celebrating a new talent and some legendary talent. The new talent is Celeste, the BBC Sound of 2020, who is interviewed by DIY here. There's also a piece about the new Go-Go's documentary in USA Today here, which is a pretty deep dive into the band and why they were/are so important. 

Finally, there were a number of stories I read and found interesting this month that didn't really fit, thematically with anything else that was going on or, if they did, only indirectly. To begin with, a new Polish start up has created an alternative to plastic, as reported by Wicked Leeks, analysis of data detailing who was/is involved with Extinction Rebellion protests challenges the stereotype of who makes an XR protester, as reported in New Scientist, and Nesrine Malik wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian about why 'cancel culture' is really about elites losing power in the social media age.

The Columbia Journalism Review featured a hard to read but extremely thought provoking piece about how coverage of sex crimes in Spain has opened debates about revealing identifying details in the press. Women's Health (who definitely aren't my usual reading matter) ran a piece with a woman who self describes as 'fat and fit', who feels left out of debates around wellness. This piece is particularly pertinent in the context of the UK governments anti-obesity drive, and was signposted to me by Sian Meade-Williams at Freelance Writing Jobs, a newsletter you can subscribe to here, should you be looking for a freelance writing job. 

An American Tragedy, by Thacher Schmid, was published over on Narratively last month. It's a long, complex, desperately sad but also thought provoking read. Sit down with a hot drink and a biscuit, and soak it up. 

And finally, Tune In, Drop Out by Ann Babe from Rest Of World reports on solo living opt out culture in South Korea and asks if honjok's were both more prepared for life in lockdown, and if they are coping better, particularly as South Korea's economy increasingly shapes itself to their needs. Depending on your take on this, you'll probably be either appalled or delighted by her findings. 

Image one Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Image two by SJ Objio on Unsplash

Image three by Marat Mazitov on Unsplash