STEVEN ANDREW welcomes the third instalment of autobiography by a libertarian socialist whose political work is charged with Gramscian realism
Labour Politics Thus Far
by Steven Taylor
PETER MASON suspends his disbelief and disappears down a rabbit hole on the London Tube
WILL PODMORE welcomes a well-written and pacey account of the run-up to the 2024 general election
PETER MASON welcomes the national tour of an irreverent show that switches the spotlight to the wives of Henry VIII
DAVID NICHOLSON, eight-year-old BEHATI and nine-year-old SKYLAR applaud a hilarious production that doesn’t ignore the social message
SUSAN DARLINGTON is unmoved by a production full of spectacular tableax but without emotional connection to the characters
STEVE JOHNSON applauds an outstanding album that is a celebration of achievements won through collective struggle
How we got from basic human kindness. Corbynism.
A generosity of spirit with mild redistributive qualities
And the idea of taking collective responsibility
For climate and the environment. Public utilities.
Stopping sewage. People paying taxes.
To Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer.
Wes Streeting (who must have betrayed
His Class in infants’ school) remains a mystery.
Obviously, there are clues.
I’ve just watched a film of an octopus
That was washed up by the weather
On a beach in Southern Wales or Devon
And the creature looks befuddled.
The boy and girl who found (and filmed) it
Had a choice. They could have tortured it
With sticks, or returned it gently to the ocean.
Streeting, who is Shadow Health, would have gone
Directly for the eyes. Reeves would have charged
Spectators. Starmer would have told us
How his father was a tool maker, pointed
Sticks a speciality. Laser-focused. I wonder
If Angela Rayner knows that she’s the octopus?
Steven Taylor was born and raised in Hyde, now lives in Kilburn, London. He was winner of Culture Matters Bread and Roses Competition, 2021 and 2022.
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