New Worlds

Don’t let the absence of a flying car in your garage distract you: we are definitely now living in a version of the future out of J.G. Ballard or William Gibson. Every day I notice a news story that startles or alarms me, that feels like pure cyberpunk, nestled between reports about council bin collections and cabinet reshuffles. “The first ever IV Drip clinic to appear in the centre of a shopping mall, our Westfield clinic is a must-stop shop when doing a bit of retail therapy. From Vitamin Drips to Instant Vitamin D Testing, Get A Drip Westfield has it all. Book your appointment today!” Publicity for Get A Drip Limited This made me think of Michael Moorcock’s habit of opening stories or chapters with startling newspaper clippings that revealed the future apocalypse already underway in the present, or Ballard’s typographic collages. So I began snipping. “A video has been shared on social media with claims it shows a robotic dog patrolling the grounds of a ‘migrant hotel’. But this is…