Review
Culture
3 min read

Most popular 2024: Belle Tindall

From wildness to digital hurting, Belle's top takes of the year.

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

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Mirnada regales a chat show.

We’re wrapping up the year reviewing what articles were most popular with Seen & Unseen readers. Our second analysis is of Belle Tindall’s takes on the year’s events. What did our staff writer, well,  write about?

Musical highlights old and new featured prominently.  As Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah hit the Big Four-Oh, Belle captured its appeal to so many artists and listeners. The new musical highlight was the release of Nick Cave’s Wild God album. What of wildness? Several of Belle’s articles tacked this key theme of 2024.  She also returned to the hold live music has on a crowd. As well as reporting on Cave’s tour, her analysis of the appeal of Jack White’s stripped-back tour is excellent.

Did I forget to mention Taylor Swift? Sorry, Belle.

But life is not one big sing-a-long. It hurts. From the digital slight of ghosting to the true horrors of Nigeria’s violence, trauma was a recurring theme too.

Finally, Belle conduct some literary detective work after reading Miranda Hart’s new biography.

In reverse order

10 – The holy or the broken: Hallelujah at 40

What’s the magic sauce Leonard Cohen mixed into his masterpiece?

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Music, Sin, Suffering.

9 - Nigeria’s terror survivors share their stories

This violence is not gruesome fiction, it’s reality.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Freedom of Belief, Trauma.

8 – Did Nick Cave’s tour just take thousands to church?

He’s picking holes in the idea that religion is where freedom goes to die.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Belief, Music, Wildness.

7 - The Wild God we can't coerce

Weird and increasingly encountered beyond the wilderness.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Belief, Music, Wildness.

6- Ghosting is not immature, it’s plain cruel

The dehumanising behaviour hiding in plain sight.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Attention, Digital, Psychology.

5 - The utter miracle of disliking an election result

Voting is a profound act of love.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: America, Politics.

4 - Taylor Swift proves Mr Bennet right

Romanticism: ruining lives since 1800. And we love it.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Music, Resurrection, Romance, Taylor Swift.

3 - Nick Cave’s Wild God challenges a too comfortable culture

Eavesdrop on profound discomfort and raw wonder.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Belief, Joy, Weirdness.

2- Jack White’s breaking the biggest rule in rock 'n' roll

What if the greatest cultural moments were the ones barely anyone saw?

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Music.

1 - Miranda Hart's diagnosis of the unseen

Beyond a medical illness she's on to something supernatural.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Books, Comedy, Trauma.

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Graham Tomlin

Editor-in-Chief

Podcast
Culture
Poetry
Re-enchanting
Wildness
1 min read

Martin Shaw: re-enchanting... visions, dreams and storytelling

On the Re-enchanting podcast Martin Shaw talks with Belle and Justin about a visionary encounter and his homecoming as a fulfilment of a life invested in mythology and storytelling.

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

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Listen now

Martin Shaw is a renowned storyteller and mythologist, who in the last couple of years has his own quite extraordinary conversion story to tell. After many years as a poet, author and teaching others through the West Country school of myth, Martin had a visionary encounter that confounded all his expectations. Martin is now a Christian but sees this homecoming as a fulfilment of a life invested in mythology and storytelling. He tells Justin and Belle his story as they discuss storytelling, mythology and rediscovering Christianity as a ‘dream’.

Visit Martin Shaw's websitehttps://drmartinshaw.com/

There’s more to life than the world we can see. Re-Enchanting is a podcast from Seen & Unseen recorded at Lambeth Palace Library, the home of the Centre for Cultural Witness. Justin Brierley and Belle Tindall engage faith and spirituality with leading figures in science, history, politics, art and education. Can our culture be re-enchanted by the vision of Christianity?

Watch now