Vice UK

Zwarte Pete

Everyone knows that Santa lives in the North Pole with his little elves and travels in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer. But in Belgium they believe Saint Niklaus is from Spain and arrives in a steamboat manned by black slaves all called "Zwarte Pete" (Black Pete). Children fear the Zwarte Petes as they are the enforcers of the "naughty or nice" policy that the jolly bearded guy subscribes to. Kids run the risk of a severe thrashing from Zwarte Pete if they appear in the naughty section of St. Niklaus' twice-checked list...

Aryan Krump

We like to keep up-to-date with all the latest shimmies so we can impress the ladies at the disco. In the past we've turned you on to Footworkin' and the Bird Flu. Now a hot new dance is sweeping across northern Europe. The Hakken used to be de rigueur at Gabba parties, but a new move called the Jumpstyle has given the scene a much-needed zillion volt jump-start. It looks like Aryan krumping and seems to confirm racial stereotypes about dancing.

London – In Defence Of Chavs

Here we go again, somebody criticising “chav culture” but getting it totally wrong.

For some reason, people think that “chavs” equals “working class people with scooters”. But that’s just not right. The true definition of “chav” is “moron with bad taste” and those exist in every strata of society. Take a walk down Upper Street in Islington to find flip-flop-wearing mobile phone shop managers puffing away on vanilla scented tobacco from hookah pipes while nodding their heads sagely to Brazillian Afro Funk Jazz House. Or go to more affluent West London where scooter-riding graphic designers with £97 screen printed t-shirts chomp down on £15 hamburgers with orange-skinned PR girls who smell like they’ve been drinking red wine every day since they were born.

London - Rastafarians And Gays United

Buju Banton's gig at Brighton's Concorde 2 was cancelled last week following the venue's concern about having its licence revoked. Homophobic reggae star Banton has, in the past, provoked protests from the gay community owing to his lyrics about shooting gay people. (“Anytime Buju Banton come / Batty boy get up and run / Ah gunshot in ah head man / Tell dem crew boom bye bye in a batty boy head”).

In a bid to unite these two exciting, vibrant cultures, one of our friends has put together an exciting vibrant soundclash video that brings together exciting, vibrant homophobic dancehall with the exciting, vibrant gay community.

Whaddya think?

NEW YORK - I'D RATHER FIGHT THAN SWISH

Back before everyone had to get used to all their gay neighbors being here and queer, homo culture was a whole lot cooler. We aren't saying it's awesome that the constant threat of social ruin and having the shit kicked out of you by rednecks kept all but the toughest and sharpest gays from flying the flag, but, as with punk, it made for a better underground. Everybody knew they were in for the long haul, so instead of having "edgy" sex columnists crying about how they can't get married in every state you had genuine acid-tongues like Gore Vidal going balls-out and calling William Buckley a crypto-fascist so many times that he threatened to deck him on national TV.