🤠 Howdy, partners! I’ve spent this week roaming Shoreditch at SXSW London, (sxswmaxxing?) – the Texan-imported tech, music and film festival that everyone agrees is a pretty big deal for the capital, even if there’s an equally broad diversity of disagreement as to exactly why.

From my perspective, admittedly with all the fast-track benefits of a press pass, it’s been another inspirational and affirming deep dive into some of the very best global thinking, plus a programme of commanding live music performances ready to stumble across, all fuelled by supreme levels of coffee, pastries and beer.

But there have also been protests, heartfelt political controversies and anti-AI fury aplenty, too. Let alone loads of film screening that have sailed completely under my radar. So what to really make of it all?

Well, the overwhelm is real, so I can only report on the fraction of events that I have seen, however there have been some fairly constant themes all week, which do a decent job of summing up where we’re at as a culture, a city and a global civilisation.

Getting things started on Day 1, Islington MP and ‘founder of Your Party’ (remember that?), Jeremy Corbyn, came out in surprise defence of modern technology, stating that digital media has gifted us a pivotal moment in history, by revealing the movements of the global oligarchy via the grim Epstein Files’ digital paper trail. Corbyn encouraged everyone to look beyond the sex scandal at the way the thousands of emails show just how toxic money and associated power dynamics are when mixed in to global political and business affairs.

Later in the day, screenwriter and director, Stephen Knight, declared that UK talent is so in-demand globally on account of graduating from the ‘University of the BBC’, yet so much of that value is being extracted to the coffers of tech giants in the US (striking blows for both the Beeb and against the tech status quo in one neat soundbite).

This extractive pipeline was flagged time and again this week, with Cory Doctorow, who coined the excellent concept of online enshittification, offering up a potential once-in-a-lifetime call to arms for UK and European startups. His proposition being that Trump’s tariffs have broken the only legal disincentive for us in fighting back against Big Tech US companies locking users into their ecosystems, and preventing innovation/migration away from the platforms that we know are harmful and so attention-hungry. Could this perhaps be the greatest (or only) major Brexit benefit of all?

Biggest hitter of the week, Michelle Obama, and her almost-as-impressive brother/co-host offered some cheerily inspirational fodder around living smaller than you need financially (which we all agreed was nice to hear, whether by design or circumstance), as a way to not end up unfulfilled, overworked and unhappy.

And while the likes of Misan Harriman talking of his attempted cancellation by the right wing press continued the vaguely left-leaning cultural themes, the touchy government ensured things didn’t get too lefty, by banning US commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker from entering the UK, in the festival’s most controversial headline moment of the week.

But, polarising political point-scoring aside, everyone kept returning to the shared idea of real world connection, (“IRL not URL”), and the premium that we should be placing on human creative work and social interaction as we all continue to navigate the AI era.

It seemed a touch misplaced that yesterday’s Brick Lane protest (railing against the potential of an incongruously resource-hungry datacentre in the Truman Brewery, instead of more social housing), would try and shame SXSW delegates who, for the most part, are equally concerned with finding solutions to the pressures of Big Tech themselves.

Whether it was business influencer Simon Squibb fielding enthusiastic questions from aspirational kids or relationships guru Esther Perel packing them to the rafters on the main stage yesterday, the messaging was always around the power of working together, as a community, rather than falling back on the individualised, self-optimised swiping and productivity-obsessed norms of cold, heartless apps and systems that supposedly lead to happy-ever-after successes.

Despite the flashes of inspiration, there are still no easy answers to our many societal challenges. Yet the live music programme, whether it be chancing upon a staccato-firing Texan hip hop artist in the Town Hall or a glory-praising UK gospel choir in a Hoxton Square back room, provided the moments of joy such times urgently require.

SXSW London may not connect with everyone in the same way, but for me, as a reminder of why living in the capital remains so vital, vibrant and validating, the week has been excellent. The Mayor, Prince William and all the other big ticket attendees are right to prioritise this as a really important event for the city and the country.

Perhaps one day, more weeks for more people will be like this one, as the robots do the heavy lifting while we enjoy the discussion and dancing that make us gloriously flawed and still very much human…

EXPERIENCE: 🦁 The annual chance to bed down amongst the lions, penguins and gorillas opens again tonight, as London Zoo opens it’s short summer season of Zoo Nights, giving locals the rare chance to sleep within the historic animal attraction on our doorstep. Nights run every Friday until 24th Jul, with no kids allowed.

FOOD: 🐮 Hot new hot broth, tender beef, noodle and crisp kimchi comfort food joint, Woo Tang has just soft-launched in the former butchers’ shop in Kentish Town Road. It’s a high-tech concept (with no service charge on account of the big touchscreen ordering system), and a laser-sharp focus on doing one thing incredibly well. Expect the next potential viral hit on NW5’s increasingly foodie main drag.

ATTRACTION:🪴 Visitors to St. Pancras International can currently encounter something they wouldn't necessarily expect to see in a train station, as the quiet world of Britain's peatlands arrives with new immersive installation The Composer's Cabin. Expect this RHS Chelsea Flower Show silver medial-winning garden design to showcase the peatlands which the station has long supported alongside a Steinway & Sons grand model B Spirio R self-playing piano, bashing out a soundscape to evoke ancient landscapes. Runs to 21st Jun.

FESTIVAL:🎸Our friends at INTRA and the Apex Project and their fantastic cohort of schools rock bands, rappers and vocal artists are just one of the attractions at this Sat 6th Jun celebration as Camden High St’s pedestrianisation trial sees a Summer Street Fiesta. It’s free, family friendly, and celebrates global culture in the street through music, art and sport, from samba and brass bands to inclusive dance workshops and table football.

NIGHTLIFE: 🔊 Electronica aficionados (and all thumping 4/4 music lovers, really) will want to head to see Booker Shade - the Final London Show on Sat 13th Jun at HERE at Outernet as the German trailblazers call time on their international touring schedule for an unspecified pause with as special bash in the centre of town.

STAGE: 🎭 The London Clown Festival rolls on with daily shows this week, including the work in progress Lil Wenker: BOYKING, which sees ostensibly eight-year-old Prince Wilfred (Willy for short) seek power at all costs. Meaning death, destruction and dastardly deeds, all played out at Soho Theatre, tonight Fri 5th Jun - all hail!

MUSIC: 🎻 Vivaldi’s classical masterpiece is given an electronic rework at A Life in Four Seasons at Regent’s Park’s Open Air Theatre on Thurs 11th - Sun 14th Jun.