Arts MUSIC REVIEW: Jake Shears @Heaven There are gigs where you can feel a collective audience groan as the artist you’ve adored for years introduces another new song from their forthcoming solo album. Jake Shears was asking for a whole lotta patience from the crowd at Tuesday night’s London gig who had yet to hear a good 80% of his set By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 2 min read
Arts FEATURE: Friends Like These Carol Decker and T’Pau may seem an unlikely band of gay icons, but in 1987 they and their music were my gay teenage saviours. The album Bridge of Spies, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, saw me through my lonely angsty teenage years. I’d spend hours every week locked in my room “climbing the wal By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 4 min read
In The South OPINION: We Need To Talk About Kevin. But not for long…… As the skeletons of sexual misconduct began to pour out of Harvey Weinstein’s closet and unlock the gates of the palace of Westminster, a quiet yet uncomfortable thought slipped into my thoughts that ‘it won’t be long before one of those skeletons comes along waving a rainbow flag’. By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 3 min read
Arts PREVIEW: Gilbert & George – THE BEAR PICTURES and their FUCKOSOPHY White Cube celebrates 50 years of the art of Gilbert & George with a new exhibition across all four galleries at Bermondsey. THE BEARD PICTURES go on show alongside THE FUCKOSOPHY, a collection of nearly 4000 pronouncements and mottoes created by the artists. By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 1 min read
Community News OPINION: Craig’s Thoughts – Tell Me About It (Stud) or A Problem Halve In the August edition of this magazine, I shared at length an experience, a hate-crime of sorts and the debacle that followed at the hands of the criminal justice system. I have no intention of recounting here, either the incident itself or the ensuing overall affair, it is a chapter I am closing. By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 5 min read
Arts The things you see on Brighton beach at sunrise on a Sunday morning Should you happen to be out jogging along Brighton beach on Sunday morning around 6am, or walking the dog, chances are you will bump into Horsham based photographer Greg Turner, collecting people through the medium of his camera, then featured in his project The Things You See on Brighton Beach at S By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 3 min read
Features & Longread OPINION: Craig’s Thoughts – Be Brave, or I was born to be Queer As a youngster, I assumed the day would come when I would know all there was to know about life, love and happiness. The reflecting, the neglecting, the mistaking, the breaking, the betting, the fretting, the yearning, the learning would all eventually subside, and after the maelstrom of tortured y By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 4 min read
In The South Carry On Up The Crown Prosecution Service On the evening of May 13, 2016, my husband and I boarded a First Class train carriage to Manchester from London Euston. We heard the ladies before we saw them, as the group of three, aged between 35 and 55, rolled up the aisle laughing hysterically and demonstrating every gulp of wine they had clear By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 13 min read
In The South OPINION: Craig’s Thoughts “Isn’t it great that Pride feels like a national celebration now?”, my husband exclaims as we wander around London for some last minute holiday shopping. And as I look around at every other shop, wall, skyward banner and lamppost, adorned with some manifestation of the rainbow, I cannot help but agr By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 5 min read
Features & Longread FEATURE: A sight for sore eyes Is our use of poppers impacting our ability to see the wood for the trees? By Craig Hanlon-Smith – My own introduction to poppers back in 1993 was of a completely non-sexual nature. I arrived at a late night (straight) party in the back streets of deepest south London, to find a packed living room c By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 5 min read
In The South The Pain of Prayer – Hove victim speaks out Local Hove resident AJ, decided to do some homework in the run up to the coming General Election on June 8. “I just wanted to be informed before the vote” she told me, “and so I simply Googled the names of those standing locally”. By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 6 min read
In The South OPINION: Craig’s Thoughts Social Media is taking a beating. Almost each week there is a television news report suggesting links between an over-reliance on social interactions through the medium of an app, and the failing mental health of our youth. By Craig Hanlon-Smith • 5 min read
