CHRIS SEARLE welcomes a new book that makes working class history come alive in a true story of human flesh and aspiration
A capital vision
London has been a pioneer in council housing, radical local democracy and multiculturalism and a new book persuasively argues that it can be so again, says GLYN ROBBINS
(L to R) Warwick Road (Kensington) Estate saved from ‘redevelopment’ or demolition by a certificate of immunity, July 2015; Lillington Gardens a former council housing estate in Westminster is now owned and managed by CityWest Homes
[(Left) Philafrenzy and (right) Ewan Munro both Creative Commons] 
GORDON PARSONS is intrigued by a contemporary update of a problem play that raises more questions than it answers
New releases from Alice Di Micele, Tim Grimm, and Tereza Catarov
MARY CONWAY is frustrated by the stylistic muddle that arises when you apply a pub theatre sensibility to a towering Greek tragedy
ALAN McGUIRE welcomes a biography of the French semiologist and philosopher
ALEX HALL is frustrated by a book that ducks a clear definition of terrorism and fails to perceive the role of the state in sponsoring it
Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London
by Owen Hatherley
(Repeater Books, £10.99)
FOR anyone who’s lived in London during the last 50 years — and especially if you’ve taken an interest in its politics — Owen Hatherley’s book is unputdownable. He knows his stuff and writes so fluently that he’s made what could be a very dry subject into a page-turner.
A book about much more than the title suggests, it’s also an attempt to understand the Labour Party’s crushing December 2019 defeat and suggest some ways for the left to reform, in part inspired by London’s radical tradition.
More from this author
GLYN ROBBINS celebrates how tenant-led campaigning forced the government to drop Pay to Stay, fixed-term tenancies and council home sell-offs under Cameron — but warns that Labour’s faith in private developers will require renewed resistance
GLYN ROBBINS advises caution when seeking advice on trans children from the conservative and reactionary forces that are exploiting them
GLYN ROBBINS warns that Labour are now solidly in the ‘just build more’ camp led by business interests and developers rather than tailoring policies to social need
A campaign of non-payment of energy bills has already gained significant support — it could be an important part of the emerging resistance to the Tory offensive that is hitting the streets next month, argues GLYN ROBBINS
