In search of political understanding, MATTHEW HAWKINS welcomes a critique of anti-semitism as codified by the Israeli state

HENRY BELL is sceptical of the notion that ‘progress’ is an ideology that the ruling class uses exclusively to camouflage appropriation

GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a coherent and radical call to arms against the failed model of networked neoliberal capitalism 

BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution

JENNY MITCHELL, poetry co-editor for the Morning Star, introduces her priorities, and her first selection

by Imasha Costa

JOHN GREEN is intrigued by the ethereal, ghostly quality of images of a London unobscured by the bustle of humanity

WILL STONE witnesses an experimental piano concerto inspired by the work of a young Jewish victim of the Nazis

JENNY FARRELL relishes an outstanding Palestinian novel that immerses readers in the sensory reality of Gaza, then and now

AI-induced murder, last rites for the mob-dog, a gullible common herd, and an exemplary Christmas chiller

DAVID HORSLEY reflects on the impact of the great Jamaican singer songwriter and actor Jimmy Cliff

New releases from The Belair Lip Bombs, Lisa O’Neill, and Sessa

SUSAN DARLINGTON relishes an inclusive production of a Dickens classic that makes no bones about the lived reality of the Victorian working class

RICHARD MURGATROYD enjoys a readable account of the life and meditations of one of the few Roman emperors with a good reputation

ALEX HALL asks whether intelligence, and stupidity, are the outcomes of poverty and wealth, and cultural norms

BRENT CUTLER is persuaded by a new account of the rise of Christianity, and the fall of the Roman empire

If non-human nature is devoid of value under the capitalist mode of production, this book presents the case for its reintegration, suggests HENRY BELL

The Bard takes issue with a BBC portrait of The Balkans, and sets the record straight

Pantos have the power to confirm people’s prejudices or sub-consciously challenge homophobic and transphobic attitudes, suggests GEOFF BOTTOMS

ANGUS REID urges you to visit Britain’s most remarkable - and mind-blowing - festival of contemporary music

MARIA DUARTE reviews Desperate Journey, Blue Moon, Pillion, and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

MARIA DUARTE recommends the remarkable and painful story of the lesbian who put women’s boxing on the map

WILL STONE enjoys a set by an artist too eclectic to be pigeonholed

RUTH AYLETT reviews two collections of outright political poetry

by Christopher Norris

The book feels like a writer working within his limits and not breaking any new ground, believes KEN COCKBURN

The portrait of Elisabeth Lederer carries a deep personal and political history. BENEDICT CARPENTER van BARTHOLD explains

As part of the 2025 London Jazz Festival Rich Mix offered intriguing sessions titled 'Persian Jazz,' CHRIS SEARLE was there

MARY CONWAY recommends the play for the truthfulness of the writing, the quality of the production and the vigorous characterisation

ANGUS REID feels the joy of being part of the anniversary of this delicious, provocative concept, and this community of singers

NEIL GARDNER listens to a refreshingly varied setlist that charts the band’s voyage from avant-garde experimentalists to techno pioneers

New releases from Kennedy Administration, Melanie Pain, and Afton Wolfe

PRAGYA AGARWAL recommends a collection of drawings that explore the relation of indigenous people to the land in south Asia, Africa and the Caribbean

CHRIS SEALE speaks to Palestinian sound artist BINT MBAREH

MARY CONWAY applauds a brave and timely two hander that explores the difference between intimacy and abuse

ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review The Thing with Feathers, Train Dreams, Sisu: Road to Revenge, and Wicked: For Good

FIONA O’CONNOR rejoices in the long-overdue exposure of the secretive, brutish hinterland of ultra-conservative Catholic Ireland

GUILLERMO THOMAS welcomes a biography of WA Domingo, a key figure in the anti-colonial struggle in the Caribbean

BRENT CUTLER is intrigued by the imperialist, supremacist and contradictory history of a word that is used all too easily

PETER MASON is beguiled by a fascinating account of the importance of cricket to immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK

GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes, and recommends a a candid, evidence-based record of Britain’s role in the slaughter visited by Israel upon the Palestinians

by Donna Irving

PETER MASON is gripped by a novel that confronts corporate callousness with those prepared to act to bring about change

KEN COCKBURN relishes the memoir of a translator, but wonders whether the autobiography underlying the impulse would make a better book

PAUL BUHLE an RAYMOND TYLER enjoy an issue of the radical comic WW3 that gives a platform to Palestinian artists, and uncensored commentary

JAMES WALSH wallows in the triumphant reappearance behind the mic of former Morning Star columnist Chris T-T

The new corporate version of Robin Hood is a betrayal of the anti-colonial hero of the people of yore, suggests DENNIS BROE

A mesmerising novel by Mexican Daniel Saldana Paris, and fierce poetry by Peruvian Dalmacia Ruiz-Rosas Samohod, and Jonathan Gonzalez

TONY BURKE recommends a new podcast about the legenary Nigerian musician and political activist FELA KUTI

GWYNETH PEATY and KATIE ELLIS draw attention to the long history of horror films that demonise disability

MAYER WAKEFIELD recommends a timely and brilliantly performed antidote to racism in times of Jenrick-inflected jingoism

The bard weighs in to the BBC debate with the nine pints of Stella theory

PAUL DONOVAN feels that the historical record vindicates the role played by U-Thant’s leadership of the UN from 1961 to 1971

MARTIN HALL welcomes a study of Britain’s relationship with the EU that sheds light on the way euroscepticism moved from the margins to the centre

GAVIN O’TOOLE savours a veteran correspondent’s account of the monumental US failure in Afghanistan

ALEX HALL recommends a considered and clear approach to dismantling apartheid and occupation, were Israel to come to its senses

MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review Alpha, Park Avenue, The Running Man, and Left Handed Girl

MARIA DUARTE ponders the defence this film makes, of charisma and ‘ordinariness,’ that Hollywood uses to dramatise Nazi war criminals

Chris Searle speaks to saxophonist and composer SOWETO KINCH

by  Martin Hayes

The Arctic in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein reveals more about imperialism than about monsters, suggests MONICA GERMANA

ANDY HEDGECOCK enjoys an unusual collection of stories that refract class consciousness through the flexible lens of folk horror

MARK JONES salutes the progeny of the Cocteau Twins for a new music built for today’s dreamers

AI shenanigans, tinnitus hallucinations, Jeckyll&Hyde in a locked room, and size doesn’t matter

New releases from the archives of The Original Blues Project, Guru Guru, and Faces

MARK JONES recommends a spellbinding set of swirling visuals and endless dub sorcery

New releases from Ninebarrow, Amit Dattani, and Lonan

by Charles Sorley

by Stuart A Paterson

JOHN FLINT explores the Appleby Blue development, winner of the Stirling prize 2025

JAMES WALSH applauds an outstanding community performance, with choirs, of the story of Jayaben Desai, leader of the Grunwick dispute

Jimmy watches Countdown and tries to ignore his bills, grief, COPD and frailty. Meanwhile, his carer walks a tightrope between kindness and reality

JOHN GREEN asks how can we take decisive action on population levels with a world leader who is a destructive ignoramus

HENRY BELL welcomes a fine demonstration of the need to love the words themselves in the communication of political messages

GUILLERMO THOMAS enjoys a survey of the current state of the CIA (aka Langley) from an expert and insider of sorts

GORDON PARSONS enjoys the wealth of wisdom and the clarity of expression from a dialogue between Chomsky and Mujica

MARIA DUARTE, FIONA O CONNOR and JOHN GREEN review The Choral, Belen, Dragonfly, and Colossal Wreck

MARIA DUARTE recommends a brutal drama with an unstable young mother at its heart

Chris Searle speaks to producer/film-maker RITA HARGRAVE about the new album Renegade Queens

by Claire Booker

WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb

STEVE JOHNSON salutes the mellifluous tones and clear-minded political message of a uniquely relevant Birmingham-born singer-songwriter

TOM KING casts a wary eye over this stage adaptation of Hollinghurst’s survey of metropolitan gay life in Thatcher’s Britain

RITA DI SANTO points out the social experience of exploitation and oppression that inform the popular winners at this year’s festival

PETER MASON is tickled by a new book and exhibition that mine the rotten anachronism of the monarchy for laughs

A Nazi zeppelin whodunnit, death amidst detoxification, a twistaholic’s delight, and noir fiction for criminals

DAVID MCKINSTRY appreciates the life and art of writer, songwriter, singer, socialist and Republican, Dominic Behan

New releases from The Dreaming Spires, Bruce Springsteen, and Chet Baker

TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically

WILL STONE in entertained, and some, by the Irishman Shobsy and the Dutch/Kiwi combo My Baby

JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis

The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership

STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old

KENNY MACASKILL recommends an informative and highly readable exposure of the asbestos industry

JOHN GREEN enjoys a highly informative stroll through the evolutionary history of trees and planetary life

MARTIN GRAHAM casts a critical eye over an informative study of the fact that solar power - universally available - is now cheaper than fossil fuels

MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay

ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends a cinematic glimpse of the role of the British in establishing the zionist state

MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations

PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son

by Fiko D

Evidence points to a Scottish provenance for the extraordinary Irish illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, suggests RACHEL MOSS

This stunning film about a Bulgarian textile worker highlights the exploitative nature of Euro-capitalism, says RITA DI SANTO

CHRIS SEARLE relishes an account of the years when a black American music carried a message of anti-racism and class struggle

GEORGE FOGARTY is captivated by a brilliant one-man show depicting life in HMP Strangeways

PETER MASON thrills to Irish folk band The Haar

Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones

SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US

RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a festival whose dedication to Palestinian cinema and experience is like no other

In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre

ALEX HALL is disappointed by a superficial investigation of how consumer choice can be influenced, that ignores the fact that most never have such a choice

PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK

MARJORIE MAYO recommends a compelling account of how women survived a Nazi concentration camp and lend their experience to today’s fight against the far right

TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice

MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You

JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict

When the spectacle of gangland violence overwhelms the text, you get the “Scottish play” far removed from RSC founding principles, muses Gordon Parsons

MIKE DUGGAN views the maps that renowned sci-fi writer Ursula K LeGuin used to make her fictions, and draws attention to the way such drawings circulate in society

by Andy Croft

by Andy Croft

MATTHEW HAWKINS relishes the valiant defiance of two gay Scottish painters whose example resists both collectors’ taste and historical fiction

KEVIN DONNELLY accepts the invitation to think speculatively in contemplation of representations of people of African descent in our cultural heritage

Essays on contemporary Latin American feminism, a poetry debut by a queer Texan of Mexican heritage, and a lush volume of tango and milonga drawings

PAUL DONOVAN relishes Michael Rosen’s ability to use poetry and humour to lighten the darkest of moments

RON JACOBS recommends an accessible graphic history of the Partisans and their many instances of heroic and successful resistance to fascism

The bard pays homage to his two muses: his wife and his football club

MARY CONWAY is disappointed by an incoherent show that fails to question stereotypical assumptions about the Soviet Union

SIMON PARSONS recommends a striking production that revisits recent history and offers a timely warning

PAUL FOLEY applauds a careful, intelligent and absorbing production of Brian Friel’s classic depiction of Irish west coast tragedy

RON JACOBS is enthralled by an account of the surveillance and political repression on the left in the US

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

MARIA DUARTE recommends the true story of an enterprising US convict whose campaign of theft involved military planning and exquisite manners

ALEX HALL recommends an exhaustive investigation of the means by which the Starmer faction assassinated the left

by Omar Sabbagh

by Omar Sabbagh

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to drummer WILL GLASER

WILL STONE is impressed by a tour de force rendition of three decades’ worth of orchestral chamber pop

EWAN KOTZ holds on tight for a second helping of egg-punk from Snooper

DAVID MORGAN recommends a refreshingly inspiring novel that features encounters with some tremendous women

BOB NEWLAND recommends a political thriller from former anti-apartheid activist Peter Hain