Over 80 years ago, Trotsky wrote that “the world political situation as a whole is chiefly characterised by a historical crisis of the leadership of the proletariat.” I always thought that this was a…Read more…
Review: The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History, by David F. Walker and Marcus Kwame Anderson
In the afterword to this book, author David F. Walker provides a rather nuanced view of the Black Panthers, and correctly sums it all up by saying that the conditions that gave birth to the…Read more…
Review: The Black Echo, by Michael Connelly
I admit it: I’m a latecomer to this party. Michael Connelly is an enormously successful writer and his series about Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch is his best-known work. But it’s…Read more…
The roaring twenties
Increasingly, big business leaders and bankers are talking about the possibility of an economic boom in the next few months. Earlier projections of economic stagnation and talk of the worst economic…Read more…
Review: The Bomber Mafia, by Malcolm Gladwell
If Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book about cardboard boxes, I would buy it. He could write about paint drying and make it interesting. I think every non-fiction author wants to grow up to be Malcolm…Read more…
This year on May Day, let’s not forget the class war prisoners
The noted international trade union leader Dan Gallin used to say that what the labour movement needed is a “May 2nd Movement”. In other words, after all the wonderful speeches made on May Day, we…Read more…
Review: Not Saying Goodbye, by Boris Akunin
Anyone who read through all the previous 11 Erast Fandorin novels by Boris Akunin has been waiting for this moment. Those novels chart the career of the master detective during the final decades of…Read more…
Kyrgyzstan: One step forward, two steps back
The workers of Kyrgyzstan have had very little experience of trade unionism. Under tsarist rule, unions were generally not tolerated. The Bolshevik revolution allowed unions to exist — on paper. But…Read more…
Review: How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers, by Sönke Ahrens
What a long title for such a short book! A short book – but not an easy one. Ahrens is clearly an academic and this heavily footnoted book, full of citations and references, actually tells…Read more…
Review: The Other Passenger, by Louise Candlish
The author of this brand new London-based thriller is honest enough to tell readers — in the Acknowledgments — of her debt to the book Double Indemnity by James M. Cain, which was made…Read more…
Review: In Sunlight or in Shadow – Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper, edited by Lawrence Block
Veteran author Lawrence Block has pulled together 17 of the best short story writers around today and given each one an Edward Hopper painting — that’s the idea. And it works…Read more…
Review: Wartime Christmas Tales: A WWII Flash Fiction Anthology
I just learned what ‘flash fiction’ is this week – and this is the first anthology of flash fiction that I’ve read. If this is any indication of how good very short stories…Read more…
Review: Going Short – An invitation to flash fiction, by Nancy Stohlman
Flash fiction – stories of up to 1,000 words – is a new way of writing, and one that sounds quite appealing. Nancy Stohlman’s book is a short (as you’d expect) introduction to…Read more…
Review: Christmas is Murder, by Val McDermid
Master story-teller Val McDermid here presents a dozen short stories all loosely connected to the Christmas holiday season. The first one features her well-known crime-fighting duo, Dr. Tony Hill and…Read more…
Review: Dancing Towards the Blade and Other Stories, by Mark Billingham
As a fan of Mark Billingham’s crime novels featuring Tom Thorne, I had high hopes for this very short collection of three stories. I was not disappointed. All three are good, and at least one…Read more…
Review: Rogue Justice by Geoffrey Household
Geoffrey Household’s novel Rogue Male, written on the eve of the Second World War, told the story of a British big game hunter who decided on his own to shoot and kill an un-named European…Read more…
Review: Four Soldiers, by Hubert Mingarelli
Despite the title, this is not a book about war, but about friendship. It tells the simple story of four men serving in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War, but has almost no…Read more…
Review: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré
This book is a masterpiece – and not the only masterpiece that John le Carré ever wrote. Read it now, and then think about all the other books about British spies you’ve ever read. Le…Read more…
Review: Behind Her Eyes, by Sarah Pinborough
For anyone looking for a version of Gone Girl set in North London, this is not the book for you. Or maybe it is — the first half, I mean. Because this a clever book…Read more…
I am running for a seat on the Executive Committee of Democrats Abroad UK
This is my candidate statement: When I launched the Bernie Sanders campaign in the U.K. in July 2015 – at the Independence Day picnic of Democrats Abroad in Portman Square – I had no idea…Read more…