ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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Egalitarian, radical, realistic
Labour’s manifesto proposals for broadening access to culture are initiatives which will enhance the lives of millions, says MIKE QUILLE
ACCESS ALL AREAS: The Arts Pupil Premium for primary schools would be a major advance in arts education from an early age
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
THE 2017 Labour manifesto was a step change in Labour’s approach to culture, breaking free from dominant neoliberal assumptions that state support for culture is just about attracting investment and increasing tourism.
Those assumptions, typical of New Labour’s retreat from socialist values, still underpin the manifestos of the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.
In marked contrast, Labour’s genuinely new approach recognises the collective, creative and transformative power of culture, its potential to enhance and enrich our lives and how it can help to build a more humane, equal and harmonious society.
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MIKE QUILL reports on a lively conference in Barnsley that took stock of working-class access to culture and proposed strategies to embed culture within the trade union movement
MIKE QUILLE relishes political theatre at its most entertaining, engaging and effective
MIKE QUILLE is impressed by the rigorous Marxist approach to be found in a new book on the dialectics of art
ADAM THERON-LEE RENSCH talks to Mike Quille about what it is to be a working-class writer in the US and patronising perceptions of class that abound left, right and centre
