ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review On The Sea, A Useful Ghost, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, and Pinocchio Unstrung
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Attila the Stockbroker Diary: October 5, 2024
The Bard pays homage to the sands of Morecambe, for the talent they have nourished, and in memory of the Chinese workers they engulfed
Cockle pickers back at work on the sands of Morcambe Bay, Lancashire, after the tragic event where 19 Chinese cockle pickers, 17 men and two women, died while harvesting cockles. China said it would work with the British government to thwart illegal immigration and people-smuggling following the deaths in 2004
RON JACOBS enjoys a great tale, told by a US communist, of the lives of working-class New Yorkers
BRENT CUTLER searches a new history of contemporary Iran for an understanding of the Islamic Republic, finding both interesting detail and glaring omissions
MARIA DUARTE recommends the true story of the remarkable woman who sued Donald Trump for sexual assault not once, but twice
KENNY MacASKILL is disappointed by a polemical, rather than factual, account of the Lone Star State and its political path since the civil war
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the lives of Charles and Mary Bagot, and the insight this biography shines on the morals of pre-Victorian society
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
CONGRATS to organiser Matt Panesh and the team at the Morecambe Poetry Festival which took place a couple of weeks ago. I am proud to have performed at all three annual shindigs (the right word!) they’ve put on so far and it’s by far the best poetry festival I’ve ever been invited to, which is saying something since I’ve done hundreds in the past 44 years. It’s utterly brilliant. Here’s why:
- Every featured poet has material which is accessible and in the widest possible sense relevant to everyday human experience;
- Every featured poet is capable of delivering their work audibly, addressing the audience rather than their own feet, and, if under the influence of alcohol, imbibed at a level which aids their performance rather than turning it into a total shambles;
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