With less than a month until the Presidential election, my mind is fogging amidst the welter of contradictions and conflicts. This country, which so proudly and repeatedly eulogises its political system, sometimes appears on the brink of complete political breakdown. This is reflected in the huge uncertainty and anxiety about what will happen on –…

To ensure I get my football fix, I’ve been watching the Rutgers University-Newark “soccer” teams. Obviously, this misnomer is one of the big problems with the game here, but there are others. College sport in the US is a different animal to its UK equivalent. It’s big business, particularly around the most popular games of…

I’ve been here four weeks now. It’s flown by and at times, has felt a bit overwhelming. But it’s already been one of the most stimulating, enriching experiences of my life. If my visa gets cancelled tomorrow and I’m deported as a dangerous leftist (it’s happened to others), I’ll always be grateful for my month…

Trump’s slur against the Haitian community is attracting most of the post-debate reaction. It is, of course, absurd. But he’s still saying similar things. Yesterday, he pledged “mass deportations” from Springfield, Ohio, suggesting he’d send migrants to Venezuela, apparently unaware of where they came from, or that most of them arrived in the US legally.…

…I have a slight hangover. I only had two pints of weak, fizzy, pissy American beer last night, so I think it must be the Presidential debate. We’d set watching it as an assignment for the students, so I was obliged to tune in. But I was also fascinated to see whether it lived up…

New York City celebrates its working class more than most places I know. There are reminders – murals, statues, memorials – throughout the city of who built it. It’s also a trade union city. Significantly diminished compared to its post WW2 heyday, but this is still a place where people wear their union membership with…

I had my first teaching session at Rutgers University yesterday. I don’t have a lot to compare it with (I’ve only been working as a lecturer for a couple of years and it’s a long time since I was a student), but almost everything was different to what I’ve experienced in the UK. I expected…

Young people could have the decisive votes in November’s US elections. Polling suggests around 60% of 18 to 29-year-olds intend to vote Democrat. That’s a clear majority, but not an overwhelming one. There’s also the question of whether they will actually show up at the voting booths. It was striking that, in her Convention speech,…

I’m guessing most people who fly into Newark International Airport don’t stay in the city that bears its name, like most people don’t stay in Luton. There’s a connection between these two neglected places. Bedfordshire was noted for its brick making industry and Newark’s nickname is Brick City, for the same reason. I don’t really…