Policing the Crisis 35 Years On

This essay reviews the ‘35th anniversary edition’ of Policing the Crisis, the jointly-authored investigation into race, immigration, ‘mugging’ and the ‘crisis in hegemony’ of 1970s Britain. The new edition is demonstrative of the book's enduring influence, including amongst historians increasingly turning their attention towards the roots, development and reach of Thatcherism. This essay places the remarkably prescient conceptual interventions made in Policing in the context of the conditions in which it was produced. Drawing on the author's wider work on the history of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies—where the authors of Policing were based—it argues the book should also be read for the insight it provides into the development of cultural studies as a fledging field of inquiry. A broader re-engagement with the work of the so-called ‘Birmingham school’, it is suggested, offers one way of historians developing accounts of 1970s and 1980s Britain that are not overdetermined by the arrival of ‘Thatcherism’.

Community Experiences of Sectarianism

We present here our findings from the qualitative study commissioned by the Scottish Government (Justice Analytical Services) to provide an understanding of the nature of sectarianism in a range of communities across Scotland, including those where it may be most visibly prevalent. The team of academics commissioned to carry out this research were drawn from the disciplines of law, music, social geography, cultural studies, and communication and media studies. The study was commissioned on 14 March 2014, to conclude in spring 2015.

The Multidirectional Memory of Charlie Hebdo

This article will discuss notions and concepts of remembering in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Much has been written about the immediate response to the attacks, both commending the collective spirit of unity that defined the ‘marche républicaine’ of 11 January 2015, and criticising the alleged hypocrisy and cynicism of, most notably, the political figures that took to the streets that day, hand in hand. I will consider a selection of the memory practices that have emerged since then, notably on the anniversary of the event. This demonstration of memory provides key insights into the form and manner of remembering within a particular cultural group, but also reflects how the present moment is integral to our understanding of memory. The purpose of this article is to consider how official and non-official remembering of Charlie Hebdo can intertwine as well as pull in separate directions. A focus on the politics, the language, the aesthetics and the geography of commemorative activities in this article will enable an appreciation of the multidirectional character of remembering Charlie Hebdo.