After a ruinous run at Tolkien, the streaming platforms are moving on to Narnia — a naff mix of religious allegory, colonial attitudes, and thinly veiled prejudices that is beyond rescuing, writes STEPHEN ARNELL
CS Lewis in 1947 [Pic: Scan of photograph by Arthur Strong]
On the 80th anniversary of liberation from Nazi-fascism, left forces in Italy mobilise against genocide, armament, and the Meloni government, reports ANA VRACAR
Congress can chart a bold course that will force meaningful transformation for the people of Scotland
Edinburgh can take great pride in an episode of its history where a murderous captain of the city guard was brought to justice by a righteous crowd — and nobody snitched to Westminster in the aftermath, writes MAT COWARD
When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems, explain ESTHER GILES, NICO CSERGO, BRIAN GIBBONS and RATHI GUHADASAN
There are only two things that stand between workers and the musket’s volley today - the ballot and the union, asserts MATT KERR
The annual commemoration of anti-fascist volunteers who fought fascism in Spain now includes a key contribution from Italian comrades
“If Lucy had really met a faun, that is, a satyr, the result would have been a rape, not a tea party” — Christopher Tolkien on his father’s view of Narnia.
WITH “Barbie/Mumblecore” director/actor Greta Gerwig prepping Netflix’s no doubt eye-wateringly high-budgeted adaptation of CS Lewis’s Narnia novels, now is surely an appropriate time to discuss “the problem with CS Lewis.”
Pop singer Charli XCX is reportedly in line to play White Witch Jadis in Gerwig’s take on the Narnia-verse, which appears to be the first front in the war against the traditional version of CS Lewis’s Christian-proselytising, misogynistic and generally toffee-nosed fantasy legendarium.
Not to knock Ms XCX, but the character of Jadis has been played by thespians in the league of Tilda Swinton, Sheila Hancock, and Barbara Kellerman, so it might prove a stretch for the 32-year-old novice actor to convince as the evil witch, although I could of course be mistaken.
