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Culture watching

You still might not have heard of Billie Eilish, so let me enlighten you. She is an eighteen-year-old from Los Angeles who has been making music with her brother in her bedroom.

About four years ago they put out a song on social media. About a year ago her first album was released. Since then she has won five Grammy awards (including Song of the Year; Album of the Year and Best New Artist – the first time anyone has had this haul since 1981) and has released (together with her brother) her latest song – the new James Bond theme. Right now, her YouTube channel has 27.3million subscribers (for comparison, John Piper’s Desiring God channel has under half a million). So, at the stage most teenagers are wondering what to pack for their first term at university, Billie Eilish is negotiating with designer labels which want to clothe her and magazines which want to feature her. And, as this is the 21st century, she’s also facing all kinds of social media ‘trolls’ who want to attack her.

Culture watching

Climate change, zero-hours contracts, student debt, sexualised society, social-media dependence, housing crisis, Brexit. There’s no doubt that we are living in an era of great uncertainty and so it’s no surprise that rates of mental ill health, especially in young people, are rising.

A fragile world makes for fragile hearts. 2015 UK data has shown that the proportion of university students who identify themselves as having mental health problems doubled between 2008–09 and 2013–14.

Culture watching

A rubbish lorry pulls up at sea wall and its container slowly tips. As its jaws start to open a tangled mass of bags and packaging begins to slide towards the sea. You know there must be some camera trick going on, but it’s still hard not to shout at the TV: ‘Stop! Don’t do it!’

This is the shock opening to BBC’s documentary series, War on Plastic, (aired in June, now available on iPlayer). In this programme, following David Attenborough’s exposé of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Anita Rani ride the wave of environmental concern, exploring our problem with plastic use and waste.