History is made at night

The Leisure Lounge was one of the great mid-1990s London clubs.

I enjoyed the 'Wham!

The total eclipse of the sun in 1999 coincided with a high point of activity for the Association of Autonomous Astronauts.

In July 1979 Scritti Politti played a benefit for Stevenage Rock Against Racism at Hitchin College, supported by Acme Sewage Company (a punk band from Welwyn Garden City) Advert for the gig, from NME, 7 July 1979 As reported in the local paper, the Steven…

On June 10 1984 the left Labour-led Greater London Council, on the verge of being abolished by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, put on the free 'Jobs for a Change' festival by County Hall on the South Bank.

Emma Warren's 'Up the Youth Club: illuminating a hidden history' is an enthusiastic account of 150 years of recreational provision for young people.

Today, as in the past, the fight against the far right has to be taken to small towns as well as to city streets.

Quite an early interview with the Fugees from Minneapolis anarchist paper 'The Blast' (March 1995 - though interview was at time of their December 1994 show in MN). ' I was telling you about that whole immigration rap thing.

Protests are taking place throughout France against a proposed new law targeting free parties.

From NME, 1 October 1983, a report of anarchist squat centres in London including Kafe Kollapse in West Hampstead, the Burn it Down Ballroom in Finchley and the Peace Centre at 99-119 Roseberry Avenue, London N1

My mum mentioned to me recently that she went to a jazz club in Luton at the TUC Hall in Church Street around 1960, which got me searching the archive.

Max Horkheimer (1935)– ' Der Wolkenkratzer / The Skyscraper': 'A cross section of today's social structure would have to show the following: at the top, the feuding tycoons of the various capitalist power constellations.

So a mere 80 years after it was first published there is finally a movie version of Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree - the favourite book of my childhood.

Coming up this weekend (Sunday18th January 2026), a Falsehood Union event featuring Hekate Sound System and Praxis records folks, including talks and music to launch new issue of Datacide magazine and the release of a new 'Hekate Union' zine and compilati…

Andrew O'Hagan's novel 'Mayflies' (2020) is his well-observed take on the theme of a group of young friends meeting up again in later life, in this case music and film-obsessed Scottish teenagers in the mid-1980s who bond over a weekend in Manchester and…

From 'Luton Street Press' (December 1975), an alternative take on the 12 days of Christmas: the 12th day of Christmas we wish that we could see 12 nurseries playing 11 troops deserting 10 streets for squatting 9 lanes for cycling 8 food co-ops sharing 7 a…

Irish Artists for Palestine have issued a powerful statement in solidarity with the pro-Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Britain.

'Soft Play' is an exhibition of work by Scottish artist Trackie McLeod (b.1993) at Charleston in Lewes (15 October 2025–12 April 2026).

I went to see Luton punk band UK Decay at a rare hometown gig at the Luton Hat Factory arts centre last Saturday (8/11/2025).

Sorry to hear of the passing today of D'Angelo.

Here we go again...

Amidst the mass unemployment of the 1980s more than 200 unemployed workers centres were set up around the UK, sponsored by the Trades Union Congress and sometimes supported by local councils.

The 2025 London anarchist bookfair crossed the river into South London for the first time since it started in the early 1980s and having been to many of them I have to say this was a very good one.

My first ever visit to Brixton, where I later lived, was on May 7th 1983 when I came to Brockwell Park for the Youth CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) 'Rock the Bomb Festival for Peace'.

Aaron Trinder's 'Free Party: a folk history' is a documentary telling the story - or at least some of the stories - of the 1980s/90s free party scene.