When your local branch of Stand Up To Racism Contacted you through the WhatsApp smartphone tree, You cancelled your holiday in the Ukraine (Where you’d planned to feed the starving refugees) And went to the demonstration in Walthamstow In your orange bib, keffiyeh and Palestine flag. How you cheered, whistled, clapped your hands and waved … Continue reading The More Deceived
Author: Simon Elmer
The Wave
Till over us we heard the waters close. xxxxxxxxxxxxxx— Dante, Inferno The wave that gathered off our eastern shore, Rose on the horizon, blotted out the sun, Engulfed in darkness the lighthouse towers That might have warned us of its swift approach, Drained the springs that flowed from our hills So that all in its … Continue reading The Wave
The End
The name over the bar was ‘Mood For Love’, Drinking in which, we hoped, would put us In the same mood as Wong Kar-wai’s film, Which we’d failed to see in two years of searching In Hong Kong’s commercial cinemas. But, in memory of Douglas Adams, We christened it ‘The Bar in the Hotel At … Continue reading The End
Top 50 British Films
While in London this summer I met two young filmmakers during a night out in Soho. She was from the Ukraine; he, I think, from Italy, and we discussed cinema and our favourite films, mine being largely Russian, Swedish, Italian, French and Japanese, with also, more recently, Iranian and Chinese. When the lamentable state of … Continue reading Top 50 British Films
Rutting Season
The toxic masculinity Of rutting stags in Richmond Park Is not an accusation That could be levelled at this hart Who whiles away these autumn days (My fallen antlers nests for birds) Reading about English hinds Being mounted by foreign herds. — September 2025 • • • • • Richmond Park is a royal park … Continue reading Rutting Season
England
Welcome aboard South Western Railway’s Service to Dorking. Calling at Earlsfield, Wimbledon, Raynes Park, Worcester Park, Stoneleigh, Ewell West, Epsom, Ashtead, Leatherhead, Boxhill & Westhumble, And Dorking. Inside my head I count the seconds Before the voice begins again. Please ensure you have a valid ticket. Anyone without a valid ticket Or payment method, will … Continue reading England
God is Greater
The beast we bred in Brussels has broken out of prison And squats today on Europa’s breast. It was not made To keep us safe from harm but locked in indecision. And now he crawls the unlit kerbs of every street at night, Preying on the victims they’ve assigned for sacrifice, And every park and … Continue reading God is Greater
The Cathedral in Ruins
If it were announced to you that the enemy had invaded your cities, your castles and your lands; had ravished your wives and your daughters, and profaned your temples, which among you would not fly to arms? — St. Bernard of Clairvaux, sermon for the Second Crusade preached at Vézelay in 1146 (Joseph-François Michaud’s Histoire … Continue reading The Cathedral in Ruins
Culture Wars: The Piper and the Archer
1. The Death of Art The death of art has been proclaimed for at least a century, most loudly, perhaps, by Dada during the Great War in Europe; but its clarion call has been sounded with diminishing ferocity over the last few decades. Initially, under the neoliberal revolution and fiat economies of the 1980s, the … Continue reading Culture Wars: The Piper and the Archer
Culture Wars: Art, Politics and Capitalism
Culture Wars: Art, Politics and Capitalism by Simon Elmer Hardback: £45.00 Paperback: £25.00 Look Inside Description Written between 2016 and 2024, four years either side of lockdown, the articles collected in this volume have the benefit of straddling this watershed in Western capitalism, and of documenting, from the battlefields of the culture wars … Continue reading Culture Wars: Art, Politics and Capitalism
A Communist in Hong Kong 