Audley’s Cultural Highlights of 2023
From opinion-shifting essays to South Korean music to the best nights out in London.
As we come to the end of 2023, the team at Audley has selected their cultural highlights from another great year of literature, film, podcasts, music, and television.
ESSAY: The Long Shadow of the Iraq War by Jason Cowley
For those of a certain age, Iraq is not just a country. It’s an event that shifted our politics, shaped our country, and changed us as a people. On the 20th anniversary of the invasion, a range of content analysed the impact – but none did it better than Jason Cowley’s magisterial essay ‘The Long Shadow of the Iraq War.’
It tells the story of Wootton Bassett, the Wiltshire town that became the focal point for a nation’s grief. But it’s also the story of a nation wrestling with its identity – a nation that soon became Brexit Britain. Ultimately, “we were not,” Cowley concludes, “who Tony Blair had believed we were or who Cameron wanted us to be.” Which leads to the title of the book in which the essay first appeared: Who Are We Now? Chris Wilkins, Chief Executive.
BOOK: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
I recently read Shehan Karunatilaka's 2022 Booker Prize-winning novel, Seven Moons of Mali Almeida, an exploration of the lingering wounds from Sri Lanka's civil war. Against the backdrop of Colombo in 1989, war photographer Maali Almeida's mysterious resurrection thrusts him into a quest to unravel his own murder. A gambler, atheist, and closeted gay man, Almeida, driven by the urgency of "seven moons," confronts a surreal murder mystery entwined with political intrigue. His main thought is that he has a box of photographs under a bed that political people on every side would want. Was he murdered for these images? He has one week to find out. The original, politically charged narrative leaves a lasting mark, blending sensationalism, imagination, and enduring impact. It is not a book one eagerly returns to once read; instead, it leaves a lasting mark. Meglena Petkova, Director.
MUSIC: 'Polaris (북극성)’ by Parannoul, from the album After the Magic
In 2021, the anonymous South Korean musician Parannoul released his second album, which explored the painful gap between one’s reality and their wildest dreams. Two years later, having gained a cult following, he released After the Magic. The first track, ‘Polaris,’ tells a different story musically: of dreams colliding with reality. I have listened to it many times since first hearing it in January, and although the album is called After the Magic, the magic has never worn off. 2023 proved Parannoul is one of the most exciting musical artists currently active. I can’t wait for what he does next. Harri Adams, Associate.
Annie Mac pictured. Image Credit: Andrew Bird - Flickr/Ward 1 Photography
With its whip-sharp dialogue and a premise that pulls you in from the first episode, Fleishman Is in Trouble was by far my favourite series of the year. Adapted from the 2019 bestselling novel, it revolves around Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) who wakes one morning to find that his ambitious, but ‘difficult’ ex-wife Rachel (Claire Danes) has vanished without a trace, dumping their two kids on him. It’s an incisive look at divorce, midlife unravelling, and middle-class Manhattan angst and while it's not exactly festive, it’s some of the best writing on screen (in my opinion) and a worthy binge over the Christmas break. Lucy Thompson, Senior Associate.
PODCAST: Tortoise Investigates
This year, my daily commute was made a little brighter by some truly addictive morsels of investigative journalism from the Tortoise Investigates Podcast. In the most recent instalment of sleuthful soundwaves, Basia Cummings follows a Walter Mitty-esque tale and dives into the world of unicorn start-ups in the military tech space, with their lofty valuations built on “promise not product” and explores how important the origin stories (true or otherwise) of founders become in these settings. Another standout series for me was a brilliant 3-episode rundown of the relationship between Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump, charting Giuliani’s rollercoaster ride from the highs of public adoration to the lows of public disdain and examining the question of how far Rudy’s loyalty to Trump will go. Emily Callaghan-Sloane, Senior Associate
NIGHT OUT: Annie Mac’s Before Midnight
They say nothing good happens after 2am, but even that’s a stretch for me now. Having recently entered my fourth decade, my days of 5am club finishes are receding further into the distance. Barring an annual Ibiza trip (yep, still got it), clubbing in London just doesn’t suit when you have things to do beyond brunch the next day. Luckily, I am not the first to bemoan this issue and DJ Annie Mac has launched a series of club nights for ‘Cinderellas…who need sleep,’ but still want the chance to party to her medley of disco edits, dance tunes, and gospel house. Mac’s 7pm-12am gig at the Camden Roundhouse proved that everything good can happen Before Midnight, if you start early enough. Imogen Beecroft, Partner
Pictured Jesse Eisenberg, star of Fleishman Is in Trouble. Image Credit: Gage Skidmore /Flickr
TV: Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone
This six-part TV documentary goes a long way to explaining why the Russia we know and fear today is the way it is. Remarkably, only archive footage from the period is used to patch the narrative together – no talking heads, no dramatization, just simply edited film clips. Director Adam Curtis captures the drama of high politics but also the humdrum elements of life for Russians and how they coped (or not). He highlights the brutality (and laughable absurdity) of the Soviet system followed by the pillaging of the Russian economy by the oligarchs, and ultimately the rise of Putin. You are left with a simple enough conclusion: modern Russian history is a story of tragedy upon tragedy. Rolf Merchant, Director.
MUSIC: Fairlies by Grian Chatten
My cultural highlight for 2023 has to be another musical one, given that Spotify has again told me that I have listened for 34,536 minutes or 23 days listening this year. My top song was ‘Fairlies’ by Grian Chatten, taken from the album, Chaos For The Fly. Chatten is vocalist for Dublin’s Fontaines DC. Somehow, he found time between relentless touring to record this solo album and it’s a cracker. He’s a poet and singer in the finest Irish tradition and this album reveals a sensitivity that was not so apparent in his band’s albums. Other highlights are the opener ‘The Score’ and ‘I Am So Far’. Harry Wynne-Williams, Director.
BOOK: The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
I’m not sure whether The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico qualifies as a short story or a novella. My edition is a 26-page eleventh impression, dated 1944. It is inscribed to my mother, who was in the ATS at the time, from a boyfriend in the Royal Artillery. It is my most treasured literary possession. Because of that inscription for sure, but also because despite its length it is a love story to compete even with the 'Great Russians’; though Tolstoy and Pasternak had eight hundred more pages to play with. If you are a fan of the Saxon Shore of East Anglia, of its lonely beauty, its wildlife, its layers of dark history, then this is also for you. For me, it is all of these things, but most of all it is about that connection to a far-off time when even my mother was in uniform. Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Special Advisor.
PODCAST: You’re Dead To Me - BBC
Now in its sixth season, this will not be a discovery to many, but when the world feels more and more like a dark, satirical comedy sketch, delving into the past with a history podcast is a welcome salve.
The premise of this series is to take a less explored area of history (something that probably never reached your school syllabus) and along with a bona fide academic expert, educate a comedian, and the listener, on the topic. With subjects ranging from ‘The Colombian Exchange’ to ‘The History of Timekeeping’ and featuring characters such as Zheng Yi Sao (the world’s most successful female pirate), diversity really is the name of the game.
It feels like you are in the classroom with your favourite teacher. It’s a podcast where you learn something new and genuinely interesting, and you are also left laughing. Katie Lockett, Consultant.