Dr Hugo Fagandini

Oh no 😰 It's awful enough that these issues are affecting unis all across the country, but literally this combination was my undergrad degree, and it hits hard. I don't think many of my old lecturers are still there, but they set me on a good path, such a shame to see their legacy wrecked like this.

What did Pasolini know? Fifty years after his brutal murder, the director’s vision of fascism is more urgent than ever With mystery still surrounding Pier Paolo Pasolini’s death, the poet and film-maker’s warnings of corruption and rising totalitarianism offer a chilling message for our times

I don't know Pasolini or his films nearly as well as I feel I should, and don't think I can ever bring myself to watch "Salo", but he is nonetheless a fascinating individual, and his "wide-awake-ness" is especially urgent today. Worth a read!

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...

Auch wenn es inzwischen fast voellig zu Luxus-Wohnungen umgebaut worden ist...

Und wozu denn hat man hierzulande das Vergnuegen?

There's a Kendrick Lamar song in there somewhere...

Rechtsextremismus: Schüler provozieren häufiger beim Besuch von KZ-Gedenkstätten Übergriffe auf KZ-Gedenkstätten gab es schon immer. Doch seit einigen Jahren nimmt ihre Zahl stetig zu. Neu ist, dass sich ganze Schülergruppen und Klassen danebenbenehmen.

Verrohung, respektloses Verhalten und rechtsextrem motivierte Übergriffe: In den #Gedenkstätten nehmen Probleme mit offenkundig rechtsextrem beeinflussten Jugendlichen massiv zu. Politik, Schulen und die gesamte Gesellschaft sind gefordert.
www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/kz-g...

Such a sad loss - I was reflecting just the other day on his energetic, propulsive, but also incredibly supple style of drumming. Listening recently to some of the numerous ECM sessions he sat in on over the years with Kenny Wheeler, John Abercrombie, Dave Holland et al was a revelation. RIP.

She will probably be remembered for one or two certain things, but I watched "Hobson's Choice" for the first time a short while back and thinking she was incredibly assured in what was one of, if not her first major film role. RIP.

When Anti-antifa means Pro-Nazi (video) Notes from a Presidential "Roundtable"

An essential listen for those who need to hear it (or be reminded) from Timothy Snyder of the insidious games that the Tr*mp administration is playing with historical awareness and facts.

snyder.substack.com/p/when-anti-...

"Now all we need is a cosmetics range that smells like Muckefuck and we're in business..."

German reunification celebrations in front of the Reichstag on 3 October 1990

35 years ago, Germany was reunified.

"What you fail to see, Mr Pope - if that *is* your real name"

If I was to put a finger on it, I would say it's a combination of a British love of individualism (see also our fetishisation of property ownership) with an equally British cynicism that says they're unnecessary (read: suspect) when passports, driver's licenses etc already exist for ID purposes.

Whaaat, did not realise this had happened 😢 I won a ticket to see Hermeto Pascoal at the LJF a few years back having never heard of him before, and it was one of the most life-affirming gigs I've ever been to: he seemed to spend half the time hugging people on stage. He will truly be missed.

There really needs to be a GIF of Max Giermann as Klaus Kinski saying "Soll das ein Witz sein?" precisely for this sort of occasion, but this will have to do for now (ignore the captions at the top): youtube.com/shorts/UXvQA...

Claudia Cardinale, glamorous star of The Leopard and Once Upon a Time in the West, dies aged 87 The husky-voiced, chain-smoking actor had a reputation as a fiercely independent, free-spirited woman

I thought I had seen her name mentioned on here a couple of days ago and wondered if something had happened, but it seems to be official now, so: RIP #ClaudiaCardinale - anyone who can take on Klaus Kinski for screen presence earns my immediate respect

www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...

Loving the prominent ORWO logo in the background!

They seem to be banking on the German electorate being so gullible as to believe that the SPD would be capable of organising anything anywhere *near* this convoluted (the words "puss-up" and "brewery" spring to mind)...

‘Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like’: The rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang | Jason Burke In the 1970s, the radical leftwing German terrorist organisation may have spread fear through public acts of violence – but its inner workings were characterised by vanity and incompetence

‘Resistance is when I put an end to what I don’t like’: The rise and fall of the Baader-Meinhof gang www.theguardian.com/news/2025/se... via @theguardian.com @jasonburke2.bsky.social

Interesting how this MI6 promo opens literally with the SIS Building at Vauxhall in a crosshairs - is it that no one remembers the rocket launcher attack in 2000, or are they just riffing on it...?

www.linkedin.com/posts/foreig...

Up the road in *Magdeburg*, I should say! Although I think I changed trains at Dessau-Rosslau once so within touching distance, at least...

I've always regretted not taking the opportunity to visit while just up the road in, but wanting to make up for it now after reading this - love those lines 😁

It's actually a little spooky rereading Roszak's foreword to the 1995 edition and seeing so much foreshadowing of what we're now experiencing 30 years later, indeed as it was seemingly happening back then all in plain sight:

I was reminded seeing this post (and I admit, I did read the article and thus contribute to the algorithm) of Theodore Roszak's comments on talk radio in "The Making of a Counterculture" as simultaneously democratising and disempowering as a false means of "protest" enabled by late capitalism:

I've often thought how big tech and AI display totalitarian attitudes towards the individuality invested in identity, creativity etc (ie breaking down to build up again), and @leaypi.bsky.social hits the nail on the head just how key dignity is to this - or rather its denial in the name of profit.

Hear hear - it was a welcome reminder as well a) that how academics actually interact with their subjects is so much more than the stereotype of impenetrable jargon, and b) of the value the listener/learner can gain by being met only part-way, and being encouraged to finish the rest themselves.

Sad news to hear obviously, but a (semi) retirement well deserved after years of service and dedication to what continues to be a fantastic show and a fixture of my listening week.

All the very best and thanks to Melvyn, and excited to see how the programme will evolve under a new host!

"Gunterdammerung", anyone?

YouTube video by Filmgalerie 451 Das Kino des Roland Klick - Interviewfilm - 73min., 1997 - with English subtitles

Ganz zu Beginn dieses Film-Interviews spricht Roland Klick gerade uber eine Tendenz unter deutschen Filmemachern (und auch deutschen Zuschauern) "das Risiko des Unbekannten nicht eingehen zu wollen" - stimmts vielleicht noch heutzutage...?

youtu.be/_H6kHjYNpc4

I wrote this with the aim that it would be a durable piece, relevant every time there's a flare-up of far right violence or as far right ideas make further advances into the mainstream. Hope people find it useful.

Text: Straßenumbenennung in Mitte Zu sehen ist das neue Straßenschild der Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße. Darunter ein durchgestrichenes Straßenschild der Mohrenstraße.

Schild "Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße" das an einer Gebäudefassade hängt.

Redebeitrag von Sharon Dodua Otoo bei der feierlichen Enthüllung des Straßenschildes.

Bezirksbürgermeisterin Stefanie Remlinger, Sharon Dodua Otoo und weitere Menschen bei der Enthüllung des neuen Straßenschildes.

Die Mohrenstraße ist Geschichte. Seit heute gibt es mitten in Mitte die Anton-Wilhelm-Amo-Straße. Unter den Augen vieler Menschen wurden die neuen Straßenschilder feierlich enthüllt. Zahlreiche Redebeiträge, Diskussionen und musikalische Beiträge erinnerten an den langen Weg zur Umbenennung.