The bard pays homage to his two muses: his wife and his football club
Goodies and baddies
ALEX HALL puts on asbestos gloves to handle a simple-minded ideological work of the ruling class
DANGEROUS IDEOLOGUE: Anne Applebaum addresses the Central European University
[Central European University/Flickr]
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by an incoherent show that fails to question stereotypical assumptions about the Soviet Union
JOHN McINALLY welcomes a rigorous class analysis of the history and exploitation of sectarianism by the Scottish ruling elite
WILL STONE, JAMES WALSH and MARIA DUARTE review Souleymane’s Story, Sunlight, Good Fortune, and After The Hunt
ALEX HALL recommends an exhaustive investigation of the means by which the Starmer faction assassinated the left
DAVID MORGAN recommends a refreshingly inspiring novel that features encounters with some tremendous women
Autocracy, Inc. The Dictators who want to run the World
Anne Applebaum, Allen Lane, £20
THE world is divided into goodies and baddies. Baddies are identified by their nation and their leader, the principal ones being Russia and China with strong supporting roles for Venezuela, Iran, Belarus, Syria, Cuba, Zimbabwe and North Korea.
They all hang together in a club called Autocracy, Inc, a mixture of shadowy bodies that practice kleptocracy (“government by theft,”) rule with an iron fist, and empower a narrow elite at the top.
Their primary interests are being evil and acquiring power and money. All the baddies hate democracy. They tell a lot of lies, bedazzling the stupid populations in their own countries and abroad.
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