Two minutes
Subway Takes
If you haven’t seen one of these “takes” yet, you soon will. Subway Takes, the brainchild of Egyptian-New Yorker Kareem Rahma, is inescapable on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube Shorts these days. The concept is simple: comedians, celebrities and every day New Yorkers (and occasionally Londoners) sit down with Kareem on a subway train and tell him a funny hot take about how they would change culture today.
Recent examples include: “Restaurants shouldn’t do specials” (Brett Goldstein) and “They gotta get rid of the three dots on the text message bubbles thing” (Chiwetel Ejiofor). So, what’s yours? Mine’s that we should celebrate Scar as the real hero of the Lion King… Email me, I’ll explain why!
45 minutes
Revolution 250, London
The National Archives building in Kew is so serene and picturesque in the summer. Swans float on nearby lakes and, on the terrace, families enjoy the sun and a picnic. Whenever I visit, I dream about what it might be like to live in Kew – an impossible dream when you look at the house prices. A new exhibition there – running until November – marks 250 years of American independence. I learned next to nothing about British colonial America at school and suspect this is true for most UK schoolchildren. Come for an education and see an original print of the Declaration of Independence.
Tickets are free. Visit here for more information.
An hour
The Roads We Walked film screening, Manchester
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It’s easy to forget that the movement towards African and Caribbean independence was partly fought from the UK. In recognition of this history, the Northern branch of International War Museum has daily showings of a film, written by local young poets, celebrating the 1945 Pan-African Congress – a conference which saw activists from Africa, America and the Caribbean come together to help usher in independence abroad and civil rights in the decades that followed.
Visit here for more information.
An afternoon
Migration Matters festival, Sheffield
Now in its 11th year, this festival celebrates Sheffield’s “City of Sanctuary” status – in other words a place that actively welcomes refugees. The programme, which finishes this Saturday evening, includes a variety of exhibitions, as well as interactive workshops, films, poetry and live music. Catch a puppet-making workshop and some freshly cooked food from across the world.
Visit here for more information.
An evening
Jamaica Love, Bristol
It was Windrush Day on Monday and to mark the end of Windrush Week, the award-nominated musical about that important generation, Jamaica Love, is coming to the Bristol Beacon. Vital history, beautiful performances and toe-tapping reggae and ska – what’s not to love!
Visit here to book tickets.
A day
The Music is Black, London
A UK Music report this March found that 80% of the UK music market is made up of Black genres. The finding is controversial, since the report’s definition of Black music includes pop, which arguably emerged from a multiplicity of cultures. Even still, Black artists are an indelible part of the UK music scene, with Stormzy, Raye and Olivia Dean some of the country’s most popular musicians.
When the late great Kanya King first tried to set up the Mobo (Music of Black Origin) awards in 1996, she was told that Black music was niche and that there was no market for it. Thirty years on, those naysayers have definitively been proved wrong and the V&A East’s inaugural exhibition, The Music is Black, provides an immersive and electric primer covering 125 years of Black British music-making.
For information and tickets visit here.
Illustration by Charlotte Durance