Says Rosa …

2 Oct

The most revolutionary thing we can do is always proclaim loudly what is happening   Speaking of Rosa, early Xmas shoppers, methodically placing ticks against the names on their prezzie lists, might consider this gem from cartoonist and writer Kate … Read More »

Helen McCrory

17 Apr

Despite its being (a) preposterous, (b) amoral and (c) reactionary in more ways than I’ve time to spell out, I’m a huge fan of Peaky Blinders. Larger than life characterisations by actors at the top of their game, edge-of-seat melodrama, … Read More »

Red Rosa

8 Mar

[ezcol_1half] For International Women’s Day, here’s a plug for a wonderful graphic biography of Rosa Luxemburg. Reviewing it in late 2015, I wrote: if we’re talking womanhood celebrated, here’s a rare treat for feminist and socialist alike. Red Rosa by … Read More »

250 today – never roll over, Beethoven!

17 Dec

I know nothing that would equal the Appassionata. I could hear it played every day. Marvellous, supernatural music. When I hear it, I always think, maybe with naive, childish pride: What wonders human beings are capable of accomplishing! Lenin. A quarter-millennium ago … Read More »

Bicycle thieves

23 Nov

Nottingham is in mourning. Millions of the city’s culturalatti awoke this morning sickened and saddened by news that a bicycle of single buckled wheel, chained to a street sign outside a nail bar on the corner of Ilkeston Road and … Read More »