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Spectator
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
How postcards made Britain
Worse for drink, and lonely in his Hollywood apartment, F. Scott Fitzgerald sat down to write a postcard. He began, 'How are you?', an important question as he was planning to send the postcard to himself. Although he never sent it, perhaps he understood the magical ability of the postcard to cheer us up. They've been doing that since the first ones – plain cards bearing a pre-printed stamp – were introduced into Britain in 1870. It took time for the current format as we know it to develop: picture on one side and, on the other, a space for the address and some words. By the Edwardian period, 800 million cards were being sent a year. They had the same kind of impact on communication that early text messages had for us and for similar reasons – they were quick, cheap and the limited space tended to make the messages more immediate. Postcards could even be lifesavers. Sweetheart messages during the first world war between troops in the trenches and loved ones at home were good for morale, as long as they escaped the attention of the army's censors. Often the troops drew painted love tokens and messages on one side – a moment of tenderness as the shells fell. Sometimes they sent cards embroidered by local French and Belgium families. These little pieces of art were a way of standing up against the brutality of the conflict. They might feature a flag or patriotic message or black cats for good luck. No two cards were the same, and millions were sent. It was in the 1940s that the postcard became a cultural icon, defining a certain kind of bawdy humour. James Bamforth was a portrait photographer who began producing the first saucy seaside postcards in 1910. They are glorious, rude and full of larger-than-life ladies and little men. Usually, they highlight a misunderstanding between the sexes and are pretty astute on sexual politics. The master of the art was Donald McGill, who produced 12,000 magnificently vulgar designs. His work caused such an uproar that in 1954 he was fined under the Obscene Publications Act. An early defender of his cards was George Orwell: 'The corner of the human heart that they speak for might easily manifest itself in worse forms, and I for one should be sorry to see them vanish.' I have a lot to be thankful for when it comes to postcards. Indeed, I owe my life to them. My father was a cockney who couldn't read or write. When he was on active service in Suez he received a postcard from a prospective pen pal in London. He showed the card to his commanding officer, who answered it with another one – pretending to be my dad. He commented that the young woman who was writing seemed quite posh and nice. He became my father's Cyrano de Bergerac. Correspondence by card continued for a year or so and after my father was demobbed, he met his pen pal. They married and they had me. Sadly, postcards have been in steep decline for decades, but they are still sent as a memento of a family holiday in some seaside town. I received one recently from a relative which simply said: 'Weather shit, can't wait to come home.' There is something quite profound in those seven words.
The Guardian
27-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on pornography: the Obscene Publications Act needs an update
It is news to nobody that the internet has enabled an unprecedented explosion of pornographic material. There is widespread awareness, too, that much of this is far more violent than used to be the norm in adult sexual publishing and entertainment – with more extreme content understood to drive engagement, as it does across the internet. The UK's Online Safety Act should block children from accessing disturbing and unsuitable content. It is shameful that age-verification legislation took so long. The independent report on pornography delivered to ministers this week ought to be the next step in a national effort to deal with the proliferation of online sexual violence. As Peter Kyle, the science secretary, said on Thursday, it is an authoritative piece of work. When he meets its author, Gabby Bertin, next week, he should commit to act on her recommendations. Draft guidance from Ofcom, regarding material currently defined as legal but harmful, is under consultation. But Lady Bertin is right to demand that ministers go further. While clear-sighted about the disproportionate harms to women, she notes, too, the dangers to boys and men, and highlights the prospect that problematic pornography use could be classed as an addiction. The initial response from ministers suggests that making strangulation pornography illegal will, rightly given the associated risks, be prioritised. This is one of several areas in which the gap between the rules governing online and offline content is both wrong and illogical. Material that is illegal to distribute in physical form (in films or DVDs) ought to be prohibited online as well. It is shocking that payment processors such as Visa and Mastercard have, until now, been the closest thing there is to a regulator of the vast online pornography industry. The goal is not blanket censorship, but preventing harmful content from being produced, promoted and easily accessed, especially by minors. Ministers' reiteration of pledges to ban deepfake nude images and strengthen the law on intimate image abuse is also welcome. So is the acknowledgment that police tracking and recording of online sexual offences need to be improved, partly to increase understanding and evidence of links with 'real life' violence. Even with the Online Safety Act in place, the current laws dating back to the Obscene Publications Act are inadequate and poorly enforced. Statutory codes as well as legislation could be used to close loopholes. The government's commitment to halve violence against women and girls must point to a more robust overall approach. Measures to protect performers should include a new right to withdraw consent – meaning that pornographic content would be taken down. The existence of pornography categories including incest, step-incest and 'teens', points to dark aspects of sexuality that many people would rather ignore – and partly explains the extraordinary laxness with which the industry is treated. The safety by design measures in the Online Safety Act must be used to compel businesses to stop promoting material that is harmful but not illegal. Regulation of the sex industry is an international issue as well as a domestic one. But Lady Bertin directs her challenge to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, in particular. For too long, she argues, pornography policy has been dispersed across government, leaving no one fully in charge. The review makes a powerful case that Ms Cooper should take it on. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
