Alan Sillitoe, 1928-2010
Alan Sillitoe died last week and when I heard the news, my first reaction was sorrow. Not for Mr Sillitoe himself, but for us, left to negotiate without him a system that is still trying to beat us...
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Finding George Orwell in Burma: Emma Larkin
Monday 21 January was designated by someone as Orwell Day, in commemoration of the anniversary of the writer’s death. the ‘Classic’ editions of his works and various media outlets took the opportunity...
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To Russia With Love
John Maguire brings a message of love to thaw the most snow-covered of hearts… When Cupid draws back his bow this year, I am firing the arrow right into the heart of Mother Russia. I am dedicating my...
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From the Land of Green Ghosts: Pascal Khoo Thwe
Had I not read Emma Larkin’s wonderful Finding George Orwell in Burma in 2013, I wouldn’t have gone looking for further reading and found a list of the author’s recommended books about the country....
View ArticleDid you care about Beirut as well?
The online landscape has been akin to the shifting sands of the desert in the days since the attacks in Paris. As also happened after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, many of the initial...
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Tyrants destroy their own freedom
Seeking to rebalance the world and make the major changes needed to bring about financial justice are laudable aims, but rarely achieved easily. Those ‘doing quite nicely, thank you’ out of the...
View ArticleRoll up, roll up…
… we haven’t had a good drug panic for a few years*, so it was obviously slightly overdue. Hearing the calls for a ban on mephedrone instantly recalled the Simpson’s Maude Flanders. There is also a...
View ArticleWikiLeaks: the sound of a stable door slamming
Dorothy Parker, LCD Soundsystem, Paul Auster, Bob Dylan, John Coltrane, Jack Kerouac, Jimmy Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Muhammed Ali, MC5, Hunter S. Thompson, Blondie, Joel & Ethan Coen, Bruce...
View ArticleHome strange home
I have been back in the UK for eight days and so far I have been unable to listen to any soundbite or speech by any politician all the way through. It is a sad state of affairs for a political junkie....
View Article‘No pasaran’: Cable Street 1936-2011
Anniversaries always offer good opportunities for the reinterpretation of past events according to modern sensibilities. With each passing year the memories get polished, the myths build and the...
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