Born in late 1952, my lifelong love affair with The Beatles was pre-ordained. An early sign came when, on a rainswept night in March ’63, a few pals on a council estate on the cusp of Northern Sheffield, and a … Read More »
Brecht is powerful but it’s Michael Rosen who captures our zeitgeist.
Below is a Facebook exchange, I think self explanatory, from a few days ago. Let me say right out I never set eyes on any of its three participants, though last week Ian Jenkins sent a friend request after I’d … Read More »
this post also features in offguardian It’s ten to one you read in my title the opener to a much cited quote about Nazi Germany. And two to one that even if you couldn’t identify the author, Pastor Martin Niemöller, … Read More »
The Trent at Beeston, three miles upstream of Nottingham, is tranquil today … … the serenity enhanced by the meres – flooded gravel pits to be accurate – of Attenborough Nature Reserve, rich in wild life with some of the … Read More »
THIS POST ALSO FEATURES IN COUNTERPUNCH and in OffGuardian Worthy, sumptuously shot, convincingly acted and not without moments of insight – but a tad leaden. That’s my take on Mike Leigh’s new film, released November 2. I’ll give a more … Read More »
The meaning of life – of love, lust, art and the torn and bleeding heart of Civil War Spain – was ripped out and laid bare last night in this flamenco studded bull roar of a drama at the tiny … Read More »
this post also features in offguardian The unprecedented crime Peter Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth refer to is that of willfully allowing global temperatures to rise, through greenhouse gas emissions, to levels already causing large-scale loss of life while threatening human … Read More »
I’ve written on this before; irreconcilable tensions between individual and social justice when it comes to sexual violence on women and its prosecution through the criminal justice system. These tensions come to the fore when the accused are celebrities and/or … Read More »
I’ll understand your raising a sceptical eyebrow at my assertion that George’s is a powerful and cogent voice which, on one of the two greatest threats humanity faces, needs to be heard. Why wouldn’t you be sceptical, given all I’ve … Read More »