Being A Man, London
Fear not, menfolk – this three-day festival of masculinity, now in its second year, is no aura-stroking love-in. The extensive lineup features talks on gang culture with ex-gangster Sheldon Thomas, debates on the lure of jihad with imam and former extremist Alyas Karmani, and a screening of Radio 1 presenter Gemma Cairney’s new film about being a young guy in the 21st century, followed by a Q&A with Cairney and her interviewees. For those needing further persuasion, there’s a night of live music, comedy and “man-to-man chat” from rapper and thinker Akala and that hairy hunk of maleness (and taste-dodging humour), Frankie Boyle. Oh, and there’s also a beer-brewing workshop, so the lads can get the pints in. Other events will focus on fatherhood, footie, sex, sexuality, prison and mental health. With young men under constant pressure to aim high, look good and stay strong, and three times as likely to kill themselves as young women, even the most reticent of males, alpha or otherwise, can’t deny that the time is ripe for talking.
Various venues, Southbank Centre, SE1, Fri to 29 Nov
CB
Flora Sandes, Edinburgh
If you haven’t heard of Flora Sandes, prepare for an amazing story. This Yorkshire girl was the only British woman to officially serve as a soldier in the first world war. Initially a volunteer for St John Ambulance, she was sent to Serbia and somehow managed to enrol in the Serbian army. A real-life version of Blackadder’s cunning female trench-mate Bob, then? Apparently not: events suggest that no subterfuge was involved. Sandes rose to the rank of sergeant major and, eventually, to captain. So were the Serbs more enlightened? Or did Sandes simply make an irresistible case? Either way, her wartime adventures were only one episode in a remarkable life. Louise Miller, who will be giving this talk, has written a book about Sandes: expect to hear tales of derring-do from a woman who refused to let social norms stop her living the life she chose.
National Library Of Scotland, Tue
PH
Guardian Live: PANIC! Pop, London
The Guardian is hosting a set of talks on the state of culture and youth today. It’s titled PANIC!, suggesting that questions such as “Does London’s rent crisis mean it’s dead as a creative capital?” (Goldsmiths, SE14, 2 Dec) and “Does a career in the arts leave you forever in debt?” (Roundhay Secondary School, Leeds, 1 Dec) should leave us very far from relaxed. The series opens with an event on pop, but, as is often the case in Britain, the subject is really class. While the charts used to be dominated by upstarts from ordinary backgrounds, today it seems that the manicured lawns of our better public schools are ideal training fields for a career playing festivals. Is pop doomed without Common People? Critic Jude Rodgers, broadcaster Stuart Maconie and musicians Pauline Black of the Selecter and James Young of Darkstar will be among those discussing.
The Guardian, Kings Place, N1, Thu
CJ
