Ben Sixsmith

1 month ago | thespectator.com | Ben Sixsmith |Teresa Mull |Jane Stannus |Hannah Moore

If something can be squeezed into a jar with brine, Polish grandmas will do it. Walk into the kitchen of the average babcia and you’ll see jars lining the shelves filled with mysterious experiments, as if in an old-fashioned Slavic science lab. Here are pickled cucumbers, pickled peppers, pickled mushrooms, pickled cabbage, and pickled beetroot. Babcia knows that pickles are tasty, cheap, versatile and great for your health. Dziadek (Grandpa) knows that they are great with vodka.

Jan 4, 2025 | theamericanconservative.com | Ben Sixsmith

Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program Login Foreign Affairs Britain’s Long-Overdue Reckoning With ‘Grooming Gangs’  What do you do when the police, the politicians, and the press conspire to cover up atrocities? A challenge of describing Britain’s grooming gang scandal for an international audience is convincing the reader that it really happened and is not simply the product of a morbid fantasy.

Jan 2, 2025 | washingtonexaminer.com | Ben Sixsmith

This year, three particularly foul-mouthed and insulting young rappers named “Lil Jeff,” “Lil Scoom,” and “Ybcdul” recorded a song together. All three had been killed before the end of the summer. For anyone who pays attention to the underground rap scene, and the internet spectator culture that follows both the music and the violent crime that it produces, it could hardly have come as a surprise. For young gang members, music is not just a means of seeking fame and fortunes — it is war propaganda.

Dec 24, 2024 | thecritic.co.uk | Ben Sixsmith

A pessimist tries to summon up Christmas cheer Last year, I called 2023 “The year of the blackpill” — a grim but defensibly grim assessment of a year of national decline and international conflict. Looking back over 2024, on the other hand, it is obvious that it has been … a year of national decline and international conflict. Damn. Still, it would be lazy to wallow in negativism. Yes, there is much to feel miserable about. Britain is sinking into economic and institutional decay.

Dec 8, 2024 | bensixsmith.com | Ben Sixsmith

One of my favourite songs to sing at karaoke is “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms. A classic of 90s alternative rock, it blends sadness and optimism with its tale of a man lamenting his poor choices — “You can see I’m in no shape for driving/And anyway I’ve got no place to go” — but promising to change — “The past is gone/But something might be found to ta…