In his second round-up, EWAN CAMERON picks excellent solo shows that deal with Scottishness, Englishness and race as highlights
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Not in it together
PAUL DONOVAN appreciates a candid analysis of the the inequality of today’s UK
Demonstrators during a march from Trafalgar Square to Westminster in central London to raise awareness of the level of child poverty in the UK
Fiery words from the Bard in Blackpool and Edinburgh, and Evidence Based Punk Rock from The Protest Family
MATTHEW HAWKINS is mesmerised by a performance that dissolves the line between audience and performer
MATTHEW SHARPE recommends the essays of a Renaissance politician that instruct and unnerve after 400 years
GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes the reissue of a seminal work of revolutionary theory that have genuine relevance in the current context
RON JACOBS rides shotgun with a member of Black Bloc on the wave of anti-capitalist protests of the 1990s and early 2000s
Shattered Nation
Danny Dorling, Verso, £14.99
THIS excellent book from Danny Dorling provides a comprehensive picture of the way in which the UK has effectively shattered as a functioning country.
Education, health, welfare, transport and the utilities have all been destroyed by the neoliberal creed of the market knows best, making it “a society that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.”
The central thesis of Shattered Nation is how Britain has become one of the most unequal countries in the world. In Europe, it is second only to Bulgaria when it comes to inequality. Not that it was always thus — Britain was one of the most equal countries back in the 1970s. Income disparities were at their lowest in 1974.
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