Beethoven was one-sixteenth black<br>the presenter of a classical music programme on the radio announces […]<br>Does the presenter make the claim as restitution for Beethoven? Presenter’s voice and cadence give him away as irremediably white. Is one-sixteenth an unspoken wish for himself. (Nadine Gordimer, ‘Beethoven was One-Sixteenth Black’)

Of all the table-top role-playing systems I have come across, Comrades: a Revolutionary RPG by W.M. Akers is the most on brand for me. After having tried to instigate a Communist uprising as a subplot in almost all of the campaigns I’ve played in, it is nice to see a game where this is the main focus. The source book is even typeset in Garamond. This is the RPG I look forward to running most. I have not yet played this game, so my reflections on this system are from an initial reading of the source book, comparisons with games that I have run, and thoughts on why I love these kinds of stories in TRPGs.

In an interview on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight last night, Dr Priyamvada Gopal spoke about the recent tearing down of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol. I have little to say about the toppling of the statue that hasn’t already been said by the protestors. Nor do I have anything to add about how patronising Dr Gopal’s co-interviewee Jeremy Black’s conduct was in the discussion. Instead, what I found intriguing about the interview was the way it was framed, and how this reflected a wider problem in the way political figures address these questions.

Content advisories: I discuss abuse, ableism and prejudice against neurodiversity, and I allude to slurs I was called (which I have redacted).

Yesterday, I went to the protest against Boris Johnson’s proroguing of Parliament.

Adventurers Wanted’s 2019 show Banishment is running for a limited time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, from 2 to 4 August, with shows at 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm and 1 pm.

What started as a misunderstanding about the meaning of the word ‘rescheduled’ led to the regular Dungeons & Dragons group that I dungeon master for meeting at very short notice: I was getting out of the shower half an hour before the start of the session when I saw the messages, and only three of the seven-member party could make it.

Note: All views expressed in this piece are entirely my own, about my personal motivation and learning, and do not represent the position of any organisation with whom I may be connected.

On the last day of their Edinburgh Fringe run this year, I joined Adventurers Wanted: Rebellion for a full four-hour session.

Recent cases of writers and artists who were due to attend arts festivals in the United Kingdom being denied a visa to do so have invited further criticism of British immigration policies.