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Britain World Editorial Features Culture Sport
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Culture
attila+
Attila the Stockbroker / 18 April 2025
Cheering For Indignation
18 April 2025
Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
martin
Theatre / 18 April 2025
History from below
18 April 2025
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
swinton
Cinema / 17 April 2025
Film round-up
17 April 2025
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
three
Culture / 15 April 2025
Stuck on a roundabout
15 April 2025
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
SK
Music / 15 April 2025
New albums from from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, and more
15 April 2025
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
mitch main
Photography / 14 April 2025
Lowry of the lens
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

victim
Books / 14 April 2025
All the horrors of Iraq
14 April 2025
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
duo
Culture / 14 April 2025
Bereft of insight into Chinese culture and politics
14 April 2025
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production that panders – if inadvertently – to Western prejudice against China
kathe
Culture / 13 April 2025
The role of peasants in 20th century history
13 April 2025
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a history that excavates the enormous role played by agricultural workers in recent times
racism
Culture / 13 April 2025
How to truly end the choke-hold of racism?
13 April 2025
ALEX HALL recommends a book that places empirical evidence at the heart of understanding racism
overkill
Culture / 13 April 2025
Bonding with others offers a level of freedom and strength
13 April 2025
A recognition that individually we are powerless both politically and socially is essential, writes GORDON PARSONS
The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024 [Photo credit Gis
Culture / 11 April 2025
Punk or not, don't miss this
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
hostess
Culture / 11 April 2025
Time catches up with 1970s classic
11 April 2025
PAUL FOLEY is disappointed by a production that encourages the audience to laugh at rather than with the characters
oddy
Film of the week / 10 April 2025
Underlining the senselessness of war
10 April 2025
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
pair
Cinema / 10 April 2025
Film round-up: April 10, 2025
10 April 2025
The Star's critics ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARTIN HALL, MICHAL BONCZA, ANGUS REID reviews Holy Cow, One to One: John and Yoko, King of Kings, Panda Bear in Africa
burqa
Books / 8 April 2025
An outstanding anthology of female poets
8 April 2025
PATRICK JONES recommends a vital anthology from Afghan and Iranian poets where the political and personal fuse into witness-bearing and manifesto-making
HR
Culture / 8 April 2025
Breaking the mould emphatically
8 April 2025
WILL STONE is impressed by Hania Rani who is already making a name for herself in the male-dominated world of modern classical music
TU
Culture / 8 April 2025
Definitely worth catching
8 April 2025
MIK SABIERS enjoys the theatrical feminist six piece who have a lot of fun that the audience feeds off as the set rolls on
EO'B
Documentary / 17 April 2025
Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story
17 April 2025

A beautifully-crafted documentary from Sinéad O’Shea

21st Century Poetry / 16 April 2025
The Door to the House of Democracy
16 April 2025
by Owen Gallagher
CS+SN
Interview / 14 April 2025
‘I hope I can keep on keeping on until the last drum roll and tattoo rolls out of my being’
14 April 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to drummer Steve Noble
covers
Culture / 13 April 2025
Contemporary classical and electronic albums with Simon Duff: April 14, 2025
13 April 2025
New releases from Nazar, Peter Gregson and Mesias Maiguashca
nasa
Culture / 13 April 2025
A useful work of political ecology
13 April 2025
MARTIN GRAHAM recommends a book that makes a critique of neoclassical economics and attempts to envision a sustainable global future
Babel
Culture / 10 April 2025
‘Effervescent’
10 April 2025
This is poetry in paint, spectacular but never spectacle for its own sake, writes JAN WOOLF
21st Century Poetry / 8 April 2025
Man hours
8 April 2025
by Adaora Raji
fam
Interview / 8 April 2025
Tensions in the Chinese middle class
8 April 2025
ANGUS REID speaks to Lin Jianjie about his debut feature Brief History of a Family
winner
Culture / 7 April 2025
An excellent night of alternative comedy
7 April 2025
'We’re a long way from Live At The Apollo and interchangeable telly panel shows here, and I mean that in the best possible way,' writes JAMES WALSH
Troy goblets
Culture / 7 April 2025
Wine never used to be a snob drink
7 April 2025
STEPHAN BLUM presents the evidence that wine was enjoyed by common folk, independent of upper-class celebrations and religious rituals
covers
Letters from Latin America / 7 April 2025
Letters from Latin America with Leo Boix: April 7, 2025
7 April 2025
Travelogue/reportage by Argentinean Maria Sonia Cristoff, and poetry by Peruvian Gaston Fernandez and Puerto Rican Cristina Perez Diaz
IS
Music / 6 April 2025
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: April 6, 2025
6 April 2025
New releases from Ibex Band, Lucy Dacus, and Various Artists
apex
Theatre Review / 6 April 2025
Fangs for nothing
6 April 2025
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by characters so un-nuanced as to be unreal, a stereotypical plot and a conceptual vampire
rosen
Books / 5 April 2025
Rosen on genocide
5 April 2025
ANDY HEDGECOCK welcomes an explanation of genocide by the persecuted author that is both uplifting and important
KLO
Music review / 5 April 2025
Throwing a curveball
5 April 2025
WILL STONE appreciates an artist who can swerve from industrial noise to clubby trance pop without missing a step
fugard
Appreciation / 5 April 2025
Athol Fugard: the word as tool of resistance
5 April 2025
Following his death a month ago, DENNIS WALDER assesses the achievement of the playwright who developed his work in the townships
adolescence
Decoding Network TV / 4 April 2025
Adolescence? Kes it ain’t
4 April 2025
DENNIS BROE doubts the virtue of showing this series in schools, given its damaging portrayal of working-class boys as irredeemably violent
attila
Culture / 4 April 2025
Attila the Stockbroker Diary: April 5, 2025
4 April 2025
A rare trip down the beer-sodden alleys of memory lane reminds the bard of Puppy Love
hotel lux
Book Review / 4 April 2025
A tale of revolution and friendship
4 April 2025
RON JACOBS recommends a painstaking study of the communists and revolutionaries who congregated in Moscow after 1917
house
Books / 3 April 2025
Solidarity in the housework place
3 April 2025
SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
normal
Books / 3 April 2025
Against the medicalisation of mental health
3 April 2025
JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
round up
Cinema / 3 April 2025
Film round-up: April 3, 2025
3 April 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
fotw
Film of the week / 3 April 2025
Drop the accent, boyo
3 April 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a drama that explores the formative years of Richard Burton’s life
love
Theatre review / 2 April 2025
The trials of a Cypriot mother
2 April 2025
ANGELA COBBINAH applauds the success of a tribute in drama by a daughter to her immigrant mother
swell
Poetry review / 2 April 2025
Class reproduction
2 April 2025
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
21st Century Poetry / 2 April 2025
White Noise
2 April 2025
by Maria Ferguson
Melsonby
Archaeology / 1 April 2025
The Melsonby hoard
1 April 2025
DUNCAN GARROW introduces a remarkable Iron Age discovery in Yorkshire that reveals ancient Britons’ connections with Europe
deluge
Books / 1 April 2025
Brace yourselves for the deluge
1 April 2025
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
crime
Crime fiction / 1 April 2025
Crime fiction with Mat Coward: April 1, 2025
1 April 2025
High quality pulp, rollicking online murders, Abnorman Britain, and high skates drama: reviews of The Get Off, Everyone In The Group Chat Dies, Pagans and First To Fall
uprising
Opera Review / 31 March 2025
In search of Greta things
31 March 2025
STEF LYONS is stirred by a new opera that toys with ecological themes, but doesn’t get properly polemical
BROE TV
Decoding Network TV / 31 March 2025
On not speaking truth to power
31 March 2025
DENNIS BROE notes what happens to content when the streaming giants incorporate AI and deregulation into their economic models
MB albums
Music / 31 March 2025
Album reviews with Michal Boncza: March 31, 2025
31 March 2025
New releases from The Tenementals, Nik Bartsch’s Ronin, and Kuunatic
weiss
Books / 28 March 2025
Resistance is not futile
28 March 2025
RON JACOBS welcomes the long overdue translation of an epic work that chronicles resistance to fascism during WWII
china
Opinion / 28 March 2025
Ta for noticing
28 March 2025
The Chinese language only introduced a feminine pronoun in the 1920s. Now, it might adopt a gender-inclusive one, suggests JANET DAVEY 
video
Books / 27 March 2025
Game changing
27 March 2025
SCOTT ALSWORTH hears the call to burn down and rebuild the video game industry from the bottom up
gaza
Book Review / 27 March 2025
Where Gaza came from
27 March 2025
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a detailed history of Gaza that demonstrates its historic resilience and changing economy
punishment
Books / 27 March 2025
Class exercise
27 March 2025
JOHN GREEN recommends an entertaining, if harsh and instructive, study of bullying, discipline and power dynamics in schools and at work
Liverpool
Books / 27 March 2025
Liverpool’s sell-by date
27 March 2025
CHRIS MOSS welcomes a radical history that brings marginalised stories and overlooked people and agencies to the centre
last tango
Theatre Review / 27 March 2025
Last tango at the butcher’s
27 March 2025
MAYER WAKEFIELD is chilled by the co-dependency of two lost souls as portrayed by German communist playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz
round up
Cinema / 27 March 2025
Film round-up: March 27, 2025
27 March 2025
The Star's critics BRETT GREGORY, JOHN GREEN, MICHAEL BONCZA and ANGUS REID review The Stimming Pool, Misericordia, La Cocina, Irena’s Vow, and The End
fotw
Film of the Week: / 27 March 2025
Not painting the full picture
27 March 2025
CHRISTINE LINDEY welcomes a film that focuses exclusively on women war artists, but deplores its omission of feminism, political context and Soviet anti-war art
manning
Interview / 26 March 2025
‘Rock and pop music were the unexpected consequences of the working-class entering history’
26 March 2025
BRETT GREGORY speaks with TOBY MANNING, author of Mixing Pop and Politics: A Marxist History of Popular Music
21st Century Poetry / 26 March 2025
More Matriarchal
26 March 2025
by Lorraine Voss
show
Book Review / 25 March 2025
Authentic worlds
25 March 2025
SARAH TROTT explores short fictional slices of life in the American midwest from a middle-aged and mostly female perspective
korea
Literature / 25 March 2025
Living in this brief, violent world
25 March 2025
JESSICA WIDNER explores how the twin themes of violence and love run through the novels of South Korean Nobel prize-winner Han Kang
webb
Live Music Review / 25 March 2025
Happy jazz
25 March 2025
MARK TURNER is staggered by a gifted jazz pianist from the Welsh Valleys
edifice
Book Review / 25 March 2025
Once upon a time in Engelstadt
25 March 2025
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles
IS web
Album reviews / 24 March 2025
Albums reviews with Ian Sinclair: March 24, 2025
24 March 2025
New releases from Black Country, New Road, Anouar Brahem, and Jaywalkers
TV
Decoding network TV / 24 March 2025
Shock! US corporation promotes ‘evil corporation’ thriller 
24 March 2025
DENNIS BROE points out that Apple is part of the corporate and state surveillance network which the new series Prime Target rails against
welfare
Book Review / 22 March 2025
Welfare not warfare
22 March 2025
RICHARD CLARKE recommends a hugely valuable text for those seeking theoretical analysis and practical action to defend public services
homeless
Book Review / 22 March 2025
The casualties of prosperity
22 March 2025
JOHN HAWKINS is moved by an oral history that examines five black families pushed into homelessness in the US
life
Book Review / 22 March 2025
South Africa’s complex relationship with the camera
22 March 2025
BOB NEWLAND recommends an outstanding study of how images have shaped narratives of identity, resistance and power in South Africa
Second Cumming
Exhibition review / 21 March 2025
Eh? Aye! Definitely!
21 March 2025
In an exhibition of the graphic art of Lorna Miller, MATT KERR takes a lungful of the oxygen of dissent
retrograde
Theatre review / 21 March 2025
On not selling out
21 March 2025
PAUL DONOVAN applauds a timely play that explores the resonances of McCarthyite nationalism in today’s US
colourists 1
Exhibition review / 21 March 2025
In the ring with the Colourists
21 March 2025
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
attila
Attila the Stockbroker Diary / 21 March 2025
Attila the Stockbroker Diary: March 21, 2025
21 March 2025
Given the global plague of Agent Orange, the bard channels his energy into community self-help
round up
Cinema / 20 March 2025
Film round-up: March 20, 2025
20 March 2025
The Star's critics review The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru, Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other, American Dreamer, When Autumn Falls, and Flow
family
Film of the Week: / 20 March 2025
Chinese family under the microscope
20 March 2025
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
21st Century Poetry / 19 March 2025
Universals
19 March 2025
by Steven Taylor
nubya
Live Music Review / 19 March 2025
Self-healing technologies
19 March 2025
GEORGE FOGARTY is mesmerised by the messages made when jazz is played by people who grew up steeped in jungle and hip-hop
zara
Jazz album review / 19 March 2025
McFarlane salutes Vaughan
19 March 2025
MARK TURNER is thrilled by the the British singer’s tribute to the late great Sarah Vaughan
on falling
Interview / 18 March 2025
Victims of the gig economy
18 March 2025
RITA DI SANTO speaks to Laura Carreira about her study of workers in an Amazon warehouse,  On Falling
clark
Book Review / 18 March 2025
The expression of the economy in culture
18 March 2025
NICK WRIGHT delicately unpicks the eloquent writings on art of an intellectual pessimist who wears his Marxism lightly
Giovanni
Follow the Movement / 18 March 2025
Wiggle room
18 March 2025
MATTHEW HAWKINS appreciates an interpretation in dance of James Baldwin’s landmark novel of doomed homosexual desire
SJ
Music / 17 March 2025
Folk album reviews with Steve Johnson: March 18, 2025
17 March 2025
New releases from Jenn Butterworth, Liz Overs, and Gigspanner Big Band
Jane Eyre
Ballet Review / 17 March 2025
Defeating the D-men
17 March 2025
SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds the translation of Jane Eyre into a ballet that preserves the drama of her formative years
wild rose
Theatre Review / 17 March 2025
There ain’t no yellow brick road running through Glasgow
17 March 2025
STEF LYONS is swept along by the infectious energy of an ex-con single mother’s dreams of Nashville
meuross
Music review / 14 March 2025
This music is your music
14 March 2025
STEVE JOHNSON recommends that you catch an unforgettable tribute to Woody Guthrie
sarkar
Books / 14 March 2025
Embrace the differences
14 March 2025
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a punchy demonstration of the the way class politics are being fragmented by the right
stuffed
Books / 13 March 2025
Food for thought
13 March 2025
STEVE ANDREW welcomes a political interrogation of the contradiction between ecological awareness and a dietary crisis in today’s food consumption
Cuba
ScreenCuba Film Festival / 13 March 2025
Screen Cuba, Take Two 
13 March 2025
Festival Coordinators TRISH MEEHAN and DODIE WEPPLER introduce some of the highlights of Screen Cuba Film Festival 2025
leningrad
Books / 13 March 2025
Comrades, not colleagues
13 March 2025
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
hooke
Books / 13 March 2025
A man for all seasons
13 March 2025
WILL PODMORE recommends an excellent and useful introduction to a lesser-known giant of the scientific revolution in Britain
Who
Books / 13 March 2025
Dr Who and the scourge of capitalism
13 March 2025
JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
round up
Cinema / 13 March 2025
Film round-up: March 13, 2025
13 March 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State 
FOTW
Film of the week / 13 March 2025
Mid wife crisis
13 March 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a deliciously dark thriller that explores the complex loyalties within a marriage
Cartoon / 12 March 2025
The unkindest cuts of all
12 March 2025
DEE HUEZ contemplates the cruelty of the Chancellor
21st Century Poetry / 12 March 2025
Lollipops
12 March 2025
by Tracey Rhys
anth
Poetry Review / 12 March 2025
Through fire and water
12 March 2025
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
R1
Exhibition review / 11 March 2025
Resist and connect
11 March 2025
JON BALDWIN appreciates the way Steve McQueen has curated the evidence of our resistance, and is inspired by their cumulative effect
Gatsby
Books / 11 March 2025
Wasters
11 March 2025
SETH SANDRONSKY appreciates a fresh take on a 100-year-old novel that helps to contextualise the current moment of conspicuous wealth, waste and climate chaos
crime
Crime fiction / 11 March 2025
Crime fiction with Mat Coward: March 11, 2025
11 March 2025
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
IS albums
Music / 10 March 2025
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: March 10, 2025
10 March 2025
Reviews of Ella Fitzgerald, My Morning Jacket, and Toria Wooff
white rose
Theatre Review / 10 March 2025
Anti-fascist musical?
10 March 2025
JAN WOOLF doubts that soft-core musical is the best way to transmit an important story of heroism and resistance
punch
Theatre Review / 10 March 2025
Routine delinquency
10 March 2025
MARY CONWAY admires an accomplished drama that explores the consequences of a fatal punch on a desolate housing estate
Edward 2
Theatre Review / 7 March 2025
King queen
7 March 2025
GORDON PARSONS admires a version of Marlowe’s grim tragedy that strips it down to its gay essentials
attila
Attila the Stockbroker Diary / 7 March 2025
Attila the Stockbroker Diary: March 7, 2025
7 March 2025
The Bard encounters Laibach’s revival of their 1987 album Opus Dei, and is stirred to verse
Flack
Culture / 7 March 2025
Subverting me softly
7 March 2025
LEIGH CARRIAGE remembers Roberta Flack, a spellbinding virtuoso of musical interpretation
bubble
Short Story / 7 March 2025
Bubble Man by Jonathan Taylor
7 March 2025
When Cassy’s father fails to connect with his daughter — and misses out on  an evening in the Bitter End — a stranger’s self-mocking charm brings seething resentment. 
morton
Books / 6 March 2025
The enduring power of radical ideas
6 March 2025
PHIL KATZ applauds the biography of a man of principle that is a vibrant excavation of the radical tradition itself
TrAd
Books / 6 March 2025
Hope for the best, expect the worst
6 March 2025
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes the first word on Transformative Adaptation, a new group that has grown out of Extinction Rebellion
Crim Gov
Books / 6 March 2025
Gang warfare and class struggle
6 March 2025
GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a masterful study of gang behaviour in the favelas of Sao Paulo
fiery
Books / 6 March 2025
The power of mass demonstration
6 March 2025
ANDREW MURRAY is compelled by the moment of revolution in British history when Parliament had political intimacy with society
round up
Cinema / 6 March 2025
Film round-up: March 6, 2025
6 March 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE Reviews of Twiggy, Mickey 17, Day of the Fight, and Marching Powder
fotw
Film of the week / 6 March 2025
The persecuted witness of apartheid
6 March 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends the story of a courageous photographer whose life and work were dedicated to exposing racism
21st Century Poetry / 5 March 2025
Growing Up Is For Adults
5 March 2025
by Gordon Scapens
Hinds
Poetry review / 5 March 2025
Uncanny echoes
5 March 2025
ALAN MORRISON hears the tradition of English Modernism in an unusually accomplished debut volume of poetry
cuba ff
ScreenCuba Film Festival 2025 / 4 March 2025
Free tickets for ScreenCuba 2025
4 March 2025
Helen Colley introduces this year’s ScreenCuba film festival with an exclusive offer to Morning Star readers
boix
Letters from Latin America / 4 March 2025
Letters from Latin America with Leo Boix: March 4, 2025
4 March 2025
A pamphlet by British Latinx poet Patrick Romero McCafferty, poetry by Anglo-Argentinian  Miguel Cullen, and a book of conjuring poems by Mexican Pedro Serrano
punching
TV Series review / 4 March 2025
Punching up
4 March 2025
DENNIS BROE appreciates the work of TV writer Steven Knight, and his systematic exposure of the debilitating effects of British capitalism
valedictorians
BenchMarx / 4 March 2025
Don’t allow art - a common good - to be ripped off by corporations
4 March 2025
CAILEAN MCBRIDE proposes a response to the encroachment of AI in the arts by reducing the duration of copyright and assuring full protection
Call for short stories
Call for short stories / 4 March 2025
Submit your short stories
4 March 2025
We want to publish work that lights up the page
TB albums
Album Reviews / 3 March 2025
Global Routes with Tony Burke: March 3, 2025
3 March 2025
New releases by Samba Touré, Santrofi, and Piers Faccini & Ballake Sissoko 
alterations
Theatre Review / 3 March 2025
Coming apart at the seams
3 March 2025
MAYER WAKEFIELD wonders why this 1978 drama merits a revival despite demonstrating that the underlying theme of racism in the UK remains relevant
2006
Culture / 2 March 2025
You can’t murder liberation
2 March 2025
RON JACOBS recommends a book filled with history and political theory that provides both a basis and inspiration to create a way forward
bolsheviks
Book Review / 2 March 2025
A socialist heroine
2 March 2025
DAVID NICHOLSON is fascinated by one of the early pioneers of the women’s movement and of the early days of the Labour Party
wei wei
Exhibition Review / 28 February 2025
War-games: no way way
28 February 2025
SIMON DUFF explores the latest offering of the Chinese artist in exile AI WEI WEI    
knock
Theatre Review / 28 February 2025
Preparing for trauma
28 February 2025
MARY CONWAY applauds the dramatic reconstruction of one woman’s experience in one precise location in Gaza in the present era
black angels
Book Review / 27 February 2025
How black nurses beat TB
27 February 2025
MARJORIE MAYO recommends a remarkable book that restores another of history’s racially biased omissions
get in
Book Review / 27 February 2025
A study in cynicism
27 February 2025
ANDREW MURRAY welcomes the inside story of Labour under Starmer for the revelations it offers as to who is pulling the strings
hayek
Books / 27 February 2025
The twin roots of our discontent
27 February 2025
ALEX HALL welcomes an accessible examination of the two strands of pro-capitalist thought which have defined the post-war economic policies of the West
juliet
Theatre Review / 27 February 2025
Juliet manqué
27 February 2025
PETER MASON suggests that someone should fulfil the dreams of a talented (and privileged) British Nigerian actor
round up
Cinema / 27 February 2025
Film round-up: February 27, 2025
27 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Superboys of Malegaon, Food For Thought, The Summer With Carmen, and Fight or Flight
eclipse
Film of the Week: / 27 February 2025
Total eclipse
27 February 2025
MARIA DUARTE recommends an homage to the iconic showgirl that understands them as working-class women 
ineza
Interview / 26 February 2025
‘I enjoy the company of women musicians. It creates a different, supportive atmosphere on stage’
26 February 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Rwanda-born jazz vocalist INEZA
21st Century Poetry / 26 February 2025
Dynamic Waging
26 February 2025
by Ross Wilson
Bullard
Theatre Review / 26 February 2025
The life and times of Eugene Bullard
26 February 2025
SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds a one-man show that navigates racist barriers to tell the story of the black pilot, boxer and jazz musician
berlin
Cinema / 25 February 2025
Berlin Film Festival 2025 round-up
25 February 2025
RITA DI SANTO picks the best films from a festival that adopted a ‘neutral’ political position, despite the looming presence of the AfD
Everett
Books / 25 February 2025
Squirming on the pin
25 February 2025
MATTHEW HAWKINS sees past the purple prose to themes of rejection and ageing in the autobiographical fiction of Rupert Everett
Coe
Opinion / 25 February 2025
Jonathan Coe - A novelist who takes politics seriously
25 February 2025
JOHN GREEN recommends that rare thing, a British novelist who is politically aware, entertaining and who writes to the moment
IS albums
Music / 24 February 2025
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: February 24, 2025
24 February 2025
New releases from Richard Dawson, Yazz Ahmed, and The Murder Capital
librarian
Books / 21 February 2025
Don’t ban the books
21 February 2025
SUE TURNER is inspired by the example of a librarian’s struggle to confront the book-banning movement
peak
Books / 21 February 2025
Drowning, not waving
21 February 2025
PAUL DONOVAN cannot fault an analysis that points to the UK as one of the most unequal societies in the world, but struggles to share the author’s optimism
capital
Books / 21 February 2025
Landmark new translation of Capital
21 February 2025
JON BALDWIN introduces a new translation of Karl Marx’s masterwork that is readable, relatable and refreshed
MEUROSS
Album Review / 21 February 2025
Reg Meuross and Woody Guthrie: don’t miss!
21 February 2025
STEVE JOHNSON recommends a stunning new tribute from one great folk artist to another
attila
Attila the Stockbroker Diary / 21 February 2025
Attila the Stockbroker Diary: February 21, 2025
21 February 2025
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
hamlet
Theatre review / 20 February 2025
Against a sea of troubles
20 February 2025
GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
nottingham 1
Exhibition review / 20 February 2025
The eloquence of everyday objects
20 February 2025
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
round up
Cinema / 20 February 2025
Film round-up: February 20, 2025
20 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Am Martin Parr, September Says, The Monkey, and The Gorge
Brazil
Film of the week / 20 February 2025
A woman’s refusal to be victimised
20 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends a profound and moving political drama about the families of those ‘disappeared’ by the Brazilian dictatorship
woman
Theatre review / 19 February 2025
No woman no cry
19 February 2025
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
Churchill
Theatre review / 19 February 2025
Churchill in Manchester
19 February 2025
PAUL FOLEY recommends an extraordinary double bill that packs a punch and leaves you reeling
light
Berlin Film Festival 2025 / 19 February 2025
Migrants highlighted in Festival opener
19 February 2025
RITA DI SANTO applauds a touching and witty opener that touches a hot topic in Germany: the future of the immigrant population
21st Century Poetry / 19 February 2025
Old
19 February 2025
by Jude Price
east
Theatre review / 19 February 2025
Predictive anti-drama
19 February 2025
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a play about AI that results in a deadening disconnect for its audience
bowery 1
Follow the movement / 18 February 2025
Riotously alive
18 February 2025
MATTHEW HAWKINS pays tribute to the performance artist and costumier, Leigh Bowery
Jameson
Books / 18 February 2025
Gauloises smoken here
18 February 2025
FIONA O’CONNOR recommends an accessible and entertaining survey of post-war French philosophy and its relation to contemporary capitalism
home
Theatre review / 18 February 2025
Neighbourhood black watch
18 February 2025
SIMON PARSONS applauds an insightful state-of-the-nation play that explores the growing class divide in South Africa
florian
Album review / 17 February 2025
Outstanding blend of piano, flute and brass
17 February 2025
SIMON DUFF reviews a new composition by German composer and pianist Florian Weber that blurs the line between where improvisation ends and composition begins
CS
Album reviews / 17 February 2025
Jazz album reviews with Chris Searle: February 17, 2025
17 February 2025
New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Kiefer 1
Exhibition Review / 14 February 2025
Wet Mud
14 February 2025
JAN WOOLF wallows in the historical mulch of post WW2 West Germany, and the resistant, challenging sense made of it by Anselm Kiefer
animal farm
Theatre Review / 14 February 2025
Come down the farm
14 February 2025
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an adaptation that draws out the contemporary relevance of George Orwell’s satire
boal
Opinion / 14 February 2025
How to rehearse the revolution
14 February 2025
ANA ISABEL NUNES points to the empowering legacy of Augusto Boal’s Theatre Of The Oppressed
kanafani
Book Review / 14 February 2025
Remember Ghassan Kanafani
14 February 2025
CARLOS MARTINEZ welcomes the publication of the writings of the great Palestinian author, political theorist and spokesman for the PFLP
you cant
Book Review / 13 February 2025
(may cause offense)
13 February 2025
GAVIN O’TOOLE chuckles through a guide to politically correct usage of the literary canon
IN SEARCH OF RELEVANCE: Rafiki Theatre (Uganda) production B
Book Review / 13 February 2025
Africa in its own right
13 February 2025
ROGER McKENZIE welcomes an important contribution to the history of Africa, telling the story in its own right rather than in relation to Europeans
pope
Book Review / 13 February 2025
Papal skulduggery
13 February 2025
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by an account of the long history of Catholic Church’s involvement in espionage
round up
Cinema / 13 February 2025
Film round-up: February 13, 2025
13 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE review Cottontail, Memoir of a Snail, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and Captain America: Brave New World
home
Film of the Week: / 13 February 2025
No direction home
13 February 2025
MARIA DUARTE recommends a tense thriller that uses Palestinian characters to explore the predicament of migrants in Europe
rom-com
Theatre Review / 13 February 2025
Rom-communism
13 February 2025
MARY CONWAY is gripped by a hilarious and erudite new play that dramatises the making of the alliance that defeated fascism
figaro
Opera Review / 12 February 2025
Figaro magnifico
12 February 2025
DAVID NICHOLSON welcomes an overdue revival of WNO’s classic production, complete with protests against cuts
vortex
Live Music Review / 12 February 2025
Universal jazz kitchen
12 February 2025
CHRIS SEARLE samples the Kris Davis Trio at the Vortex and recommends highlights from the forthcoming programme
ligeti
Live Music Review / 12 February 2025
Riley good
12 February 2025
SIMON DUFF immerses himself in the Kings Place D&B soundscape to relish a contemporary string quartet
21st Century Poetry: / 11 February 2025
The Semiotics of a Genocide Observed
11 February 2025
by Uzmah Ali
IS albums
Album reviews / 10 February 2025
Album reviews with Ian Sinclair: February 11, 2025
10 February 2025
New releases from The Delines, Jim Ghedi and Nap Eyes 
2 books
Book Reviews / 10 February 2025
England’s ghosts
10 February 2025
ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends two collections of short stories that use a single location to connect the narratives, and explore the limits of our ability to understand the world
lee
Comedy / 10 February 2025
The beast within
10 February 2025
GEORGE FOGARTY applauds a show that punches down alt-right-friendly comedy
boix
Literature / 10 February 2025
Letters from Latin America with Leo Boix: February 2025
10 February 2025
An outstanding novel by Chilean writer and activist Pedro Lemebel, a poetry pamphlet by Venezuelan Natasha Tiniacos, and a children’s book of haikus singing the beauty of Cuba
palestine
Books / 7 February 2025
Colonialism and violence
7 February 2025
RON JACOBS welcomes a Palestinian account of being subject to a brutal occupation supported by the most powerful governments in the world
attila
Attila the Stockbroker Diary / 7 February 2025
Attila the Stockbroker Diary: February 7, 2025
7 February 2025
The bard ditches an unspecial relationship, encounters a new subdivision of metal, and discovers the cure for a stiff neck
BL
Short Story / 7 February 2025
Brotherly Love by Angus Reid
7 February 2025
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
years
Theatre review / 7 February 2025
The drama of a woman’s life
7 February 2025
MARY CONWAY recommends a beautifully judged performance that shines a light on the experience of all female war babies and boomers
round up
Cinema / 7 February 2025
Film round-up: February 7, 2025
7 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews September 5, The Fire Inside, Bring Them Down, and Love Hurts
mahg
Book Review / 6 February 2025
The north African struggle
6 February 2025
JOE GILL welcomes a helpful, if incomplete, guide to the the native and Islamic struggles against imperial and colonial powers in north Africa
last rites
Theatre Review / 6 February 2025
The signs of grief
6 February 2025
SIMON PARSONS applauds an expressive and delicate drama that depicts a deaf son’s Hindu funeral ceremony for his father
fig
Film of the Week: / 6 February 2025
Iranian thriller, to be handled with care
6 February 2025
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE is enthralled by a complex thriller, but advises caution in accepting its depiction of reality
oddipus
Theatre review / 6 February 2025
Oddipus
6 February 2025
WILL STONE is intrigued, and a little baffled by a strangely unique telling of the classic Sophocles play
blouin
Book Review / 5 February 2025
Lumumba’s right hand woman
5 February 2025
ROGER MCKENZIE recommends an insider's view of the fight for African independence, as experienced by an important and neglected woman
islamesque
Books / 5 February 2025
The long reach of the medieval Islamic workforce
5 February 2025
WILL PODMORE is enthralled by the convincing case that guilds of Islamic craftsmen were responsible for the European gothic style
tradwife
Theatre Review / 5 February 2025
Tradwife pic dilemma
5 February 2025
PETER MASON applauds a thought-provoking study of the relationship between a grieving woman and her photographer
somuah
Interview / 5 February 2025
Living the highlife
5 February 2025
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Ghanaian trumpeter PETER SOMUAH
figaro
Theatre Review / 5 February 2025
Plotless musical flops
5 February 2025
PETER MASON points out that it takes more than a string of poppy power ballads to make a satisfactory drama
21st Century Poetry: / 5 February 2025
Fatima’s Bird
5 February 2025
by Mike Jenkins
golden age of slavery
Book Review / 4 February 2025
The Golden Age of Slavery
4 February 2025
CAROLINE FOWLER explains how the slave trade helped establish the ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting and where to find its hidden traces
oberst
Opinion / 4 February 2025
Where is the 21st-century protest song?
4 February 2025
JOHN NEWSHAM draws attention to the uncompromising path of US singer/songwriter CONOR OBERST
antigone
Theatre Review / 4 February 2025
If Shamima Begum had a sister
4 February 2025
SIMON PARSONS applauds a tense and thoughtful production that regularly challenges our political engagement and prejudices
mussolini
TV Series Review / 3 February 2025
Italian atrocity
3 February 2025
JOHN FOOT welcomes a depiction of the fascist dictator’s rise to power that points the finger of blame at his enablers
kb albums
Album reviews / 3 February 2025
Album reviews with Kevin Bryan: February 3, 2025
3 February 2025
New releases from Loudon Wainwright III, Flamin’ Groovies, and Wishbone Ash
red art
Exhibition review  / 31 January 2025
Political art draws large crowds
31 January 2025
CHARLOTTE DIXON recommends an exhibition that spits in the face of politicians, police and oil giants 
LONGLEY
Appreciation / 31 January 2025
Outstanding Northern Irish poet
31 January 2025
JENNY FARRELL pays tribute to the late Michael Longley, whose poetry, forged in the time of The Troubles, speaks to today’s wars