Caitlin Barr

Caitlin Barr on how youth services cuts are failing young people

Caitlin Barr sent six lucky MA students on an interview assignment like no other, with the hopes of setting up at least one new City Journalism romance

New Malden is home to Europe’s densest population of Korean expatriates, with an eclectic culinary culture to boot. From bibimbap to bingsu, Caitlin Barr tours the ‘Little Korea’ that’s only a stone’s throw from Waterloo.

A piece about the ways in which capital stifles the enjoyment of hobbies and exploring multiple personalities for Polyester Zine.

The Bechdel Test, named after its creator Alison Bechdel, aims to measure female representation in film via three criteria: the film must have two named female characters (1), who have a conversation with each other (2) about something other than a man (3). The fact that 60% of films surveyed in 2021 passed the test is hardly cause for celebration — the other 40% (a sizeable chunk!) did not meet the very simple conditions.

Caitlin Barr discusses the effects of the Amazon workers’ Black Friday strike, ‘Make Amazon Pay’. On Black Friday, many Amazon workers across the globe took part in strikes as part of a coalition called ‘Make Amazon Pay’. The movement aimed to cease work at distribution centres, data centres, and factories across 20 countries including Italy, France, and India.

A piece on the monetisation of self-care for RAZZ's NOURISH edition.

In the opening scene of Alfonso Cuarón’s 2018 film Roma, a plane crosses the sky, reflected in a pool of water on tiles. This shot seems to last a lifetime until the camera pans to a woman mopping the floor, enclosed in the side passage of the large townhouse she is cleaning. The contrast between the two images is stark: the freedom of travelling the whole world, set against an image of a woman trapped as much by her chores as she is the shot she is framed in.

On the 7 June 2020, against a backdrop of conversations surrounding the treatment of Black people in light of the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minnesota, protestors in Bristol graffitied, tied up and toppled a statue of Edward Colston, a slave trader whose fortune helped to build the city. The whole world watched as the bronze memorial, which had stood by Bristol’s harbour since 1895, was thrown into the water amidst cheering.

When the UK government’s lockdown roadmap was announced towards the end of February, I was thrilled. Finally - nights out, house parties with more than just the 4 other people I live with, hopping on a train into the city and catching a film at my favourite cinema – all the best bits of summers past were going to be legal again in the near future.

Two days after International Women’s Day, Sarah Everard was found dead in a body bag in Kent. Her disappearance had already been the impetus for a multitude of tweets and social media posts from women and others affected by gendered violence at the hands of the patriarchy, and her murder, linked to a serving police officer, opened the wound afresh.