ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review DJ Ahmet, Redoubt, They Will Kill You, and The Magic Faraway Tree

ANDY HEDGECOCK is disappointed by a survey of George Orwell’s life and literary obsessions that is mesmerised by its own baroque technique

In this gung-ho moment, GORDON PARSONS has doubts about the ambiguity of a patchy production of Shakespeare’s paean to warfare

SOPHIE STOLL wallows in a fine live recording of old blues-infused folk songs immersed in American blue-collar culture

by Olaore Durodola-Oloto

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Nepali jazz drummer ANMOL MOHARA about tradition, culture, identity, migration and belonging

KEVIN DONNELLY asks HOLLY GRAHAM how she, as an artist, can confront an institution over its own association with the slave trade

SYLVIA HIKINS twists and shouts, and recommends an outstanding homage to Lennon and McCartney

MARY CONWAY is moved by a play of depth and originality that brings true insight into Van Gogh’s journey

New releases from Joe Pernice, Arlo Parks, and Marilyn Crispell & Anders Jormin

PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.

RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger

ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs

PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis

GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield

PAUL FOLEY speaks to Mark Calvert, director of I, Daniel Blake before a new tour

MICHAL BONCZA introduces a sculpture that celebrates the end of Franco’s fascist rule while commemorating some of the last victims of its proclivity for mass murder

JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey

ANDY HEDGECOCK peers into the US psyche to find deluded ambition, toxic aggression and an obsession with fame

by Khayelihle Benghu

ALAN MORRISON recommends a consummate, heart-warming collection about a working-class upbringing in the industrial north-east

MIK SABIERS is enveloped by the enchanting bass and vocals of Beth Rettig in a small but historic venue

Taxi Driver at 50: Martin Scorsese’s film remains a troubling reflection of our times, writes ALEXANDER HOWARD

A dazzling novel, and autobiographical fiction, by Mexicans Brenda Navarro and Cristina Rivera Garza, and poetry by Brazilian Ricardo Domeneck

JONATHAN TAYLOR ponders the difference between autobiography and memoir - between life and story - in Margaret Atwood’s account of herself

DENNIS BROE examines two new horror films — Send Help and Scream 7 — for the way they demonstrate how capital routinely desensitises the consumer

Rereleases from Andrew Gold; John McFee, Stu Cook, Keith Knudsen; and The Outer Limits

KATAYOUN SHAHANDEH surveys Iran’s cultural heritage and explains what has been damaged and what could be lost

The Bard finds Bard Company, and rallies us all to the anti-fascist cause

JOHN GREEN is intrigued by an explanation of irrational behaviour from the point of view of brain science

SYLVIA HIKINS celebrates the chance that a new memoir offers to explore Frieda Brewster’s remarkable life story

MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review The Tasters, A Pale View of Hills, How To Make a Killing, and Reminders of Him

Five years ago a flash crowd of Glaswegian activists defeated the Home Office and the police; MATT KERR urges you to savour that day in a cinema

PAUL DONOVAN enjoys a somewhat rose-tinted survey of Brown’s achievements and legacy, as well as his moments of political cowardice

BRENT CUTLER admires the plotting but takes issue with the politics of a new Scottish crime thriller

SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds the sensuality and strong characterisation of an unconventional ballet about an unconventional woman

JOHN GREEN is disappointed by a history of the British working class that retreads familiar paths and offers no new insights

GUILLERMO THOMAS recommends an important, if dispiriting book about the neo-colonial culture of Uganda under Yoweri Museveni

by Patrick Cotter

KEN COCKBURN is intrigued by the publication of the Marxist theorist’s reminiscence of a bourgeois childhood

PAUL FOLEY steps gingerly through an exhibition that purports to show east and south-east Asian culture, and questions its intentions

Tyrannosaurs in Thailand, colonialism as videogame, and a feminist gem from 1936

DENNIS BROE surveys the bias of the US news networks, and recommends alternatives

New releases from Alex Wilson and Omar Rios Melendez, Hello Cosmos, and Harry Christelis

New releases from Shabaka, Squeeze, and Roswell Road

JOHN GREEN welcomes a vital contribution to the debates around genetic manipulation

GORDON PARSONS is intrigued by a biography of the Marxist intellectual and author, made from the point of view of his son

SYLVIA HIKINS is compelled by a travel writer’s personal exploration of his native Lancashire, by the Morning Star’s own Chris Moss

MARJ MAYO recommends a lyrical and disturbing account of the tragic suicide in Venice of Pateh Sabally, a refugee from the Gambia

In the face of Trump’s brutal aggression, DODIE WEPPLER and TRISH MEEHAN invite you to share some of the masterpieces of Cuban cinema

GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends an inspiring, political and bittersweet account of the munitions factory workers who are the fore-runners of the modern women’s game

MARY CONWAY is spellbound by superb performances in Arthur Miller’s study of the social and personal stress brought about by Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht

MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review The Bride!, The King’s Warden, Sound of Falling, and Mother’s Pride

ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends an unflinching analysis of the billionaire class that celebrates collective resistance to it

RON JACOBS recommends an outstanding family memoir of life in Gaza

SIMON PARSONS applauds an outstanding one woman show that weaves real poems and narratives into the story of one girl’s flight

MARY CONWAY applauds an exploration, through five short plays, that demonstrates the vital role of drama in furthering collective understanding

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Nicaraguan guitarist OMAR RIOS MELENDEZ

by Gabriel Gbadamosi

SIMON PARSONS applauds an artist who rescues and rehumanises stories of women, the victims of violence, from a feminist perspective

Good Cop vs Bad Fascist fantasy, a guilty witness, Scottish witchcraft, and Camino de Santiago shocker

FIONA O’CONNOR relishes a cinematic exploration of the writing, and the historical context of Thomas Mann’s WWI masterpiece, The Magic Mountain

SHELLEY GALPIN points out that Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure criticised university elitism, and still rings true today

Releases from Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Maggie Nicols/Robert Mitchell/Alya Al Sultani, and Gordon Beck Trio and Quintet

LEO BOIX reviews a dazzling art exhibition by one of Latin America’s most important and rebellious artists, whose art exposes the way state violence operates not only through physical force, but through culture

The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song

MARJORIE MAYO is disappointed by the lack of class analysis in an all-too-plausible account of progressive causes

IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy

PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance

STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit

SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State

MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill

SCOTT ALSWORTH recommends a film that is as informative as it is rage inducing

MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot

DENNIS BROE points out that two popular TV series promote police violence and disguise it as ‘fun’

by Nuala Watt

GORDON PARSONS applauds a marvellous story of human ingenuity and youthful determination, well served by a large and talented company

PETER MASON relishes a quirky and highly entertaining take on Shakespeare’s tragicomedy

RITA DI SANTO points out that political films at Cannes, and overtly pro-Palestinian statements by film-makers, contradict the apolitical stance of the jury

SUSAN DARLINGTON applauds bold choices that force the audience to re-examine a familiar comedy

SUSAN DARLINGTON is moved by fleeting glimpses into the lives of people living on a single road in a nameless Lancashire town

New releases from Bill Callahan, The Delines, and Beck

JONATHAN TAYLOR is intrigued how good storytelling can make a hobby as obsessional as metal detecting seem fascinating

RON JACOBS sees similarities between the personality of the the Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco, and Donald Trump

RUTH AYLETT recommends this book if you want to learn how AI’s large language models work

ROB HARGREAVES is moved by the way that memories of the Spanish civil war still stir our passions

MIK SABIERS is transported by space rock groove

TONY BURKE speaks to producer and broadcaster LUCY DURAN about her new project — Guitari Baro

STEPHANIE DENNISON and ALFREDO LUIZ DE OLIVEIRA SUPPIA explain the political context of The Secret Agent, a gripping thriller that reminds us why academic freedom needs protecting

STEVE JOHNSON speaks to ANGUS REID about his new film — free to watch for Morning Star readers — that documents Cuba’s revolutionary new family code

JOHN GREEN, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Fukushima: A Nuclear Nightmare, Man on the Run, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and Cold Storage

MICHAL BONCZA is engrossed by a complex and terrifying, yet respectfully intelligent political thriller set in 1970s Brazil

by Nada Shawa

TINASHE MUSHAKAVANHU explores a tender and urgent new film about the South African novelist Lauretta Ngcobo

MIK SABIERS raises a glass of Lambrini to commentary, diatribes, punk rock riffs, some pontification and a whole lot of fun

DENNIS BROE searches the literary canon to explore why a duplicitous, lying, cheating, conning US businessman is accepted as Scammer-in-Chief

BRENT CUTLER unpicks the complex social relations imagined in a novel about the builders of Stonehenge

SUSAN DARLINGTON laments a version of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes that is unable to solve its own problems

MARY CONWAY welcomes a warm, if microscopic study of an Indian and a Pakistani, both culturally adrift in Britain

New releases from The Thumping Tommys, Dan O’Farrell and The Difference Engine, and Sean Taylor

SYLVIA HIKINS relishes Jeanette Winterson’s brilliant hijack of 1001 Nights to push aside the boundaries set by others

KENNY MacASKILL welcomes a meticulous account of the corruption of the vast US Department of Justice under Trump’s first and second terms

For his study of anti-Muslim Muzaffarnagar Riot, HENRY BELL applauds Joe Sacco for a devastatingly effective combination of graphic novel and investigative journalism

Given the epidemic of corruption in post colonial states, ALEX HALL is disappointed by a failure to analyse the economic architecture that makes it so lucrative

PAUL DONOVAN applauds a new play that revisits in old age the well-known characters of Margaret Thatcher’s favourite TV series

Poetic license in hand, the Bard does love on Valentine’s Day

SUSAN DARLINGTON swoons in the presence of a magnetic frontman

The economy collapses and London is abandoned by the wealthy. Determined to survive, a working-class woman struggles with scarcity and dejection 

MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review "Wuthering Heights", Little Amelie or the Character of Rain, Crime 101, and Stitch Head

ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends an unflinching examination of the chaos and suffering wrought by US foreign policy, told through the story of a child’s simple quest

MARY CONWAY becomes impatient with the intellectual self-indulgence of Tom Stoppard in a production that is, nevertheless, total class

ALISTAIR FINDLAY recommends the simple cadence, common prose, free verse, and descriptive power of a new collection by Julie McNeill

by Julie McNeill

FRANK McCAULEY gets Laid

MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about a two-handed theatrical homage to jazz’s most mercurial musician

SCOTT ALSWORTH suggests that video games have a lot to learn the rich tradition of Marxist theatre

ANDY HEDGECOCK is enthralled by a collection of South Korean ghost stories where human behaviour is as chilling as any spectral activity

MARY CONWAY revels in the macabre waiting game of Strindberg’s forensic dissection of a loveless ruling-class marriage

DAVID YEARSLEY examines the soundtrack and filmic predecessors of the execrable Melania

SIMON PARSONS is charmed by a hilarious tender show that will open the eyes to the delights and possibilities of puppetry

New releases from Pat Metheny, Greazy Alice, and Momoko Gill

ALEX HALL appreciates the history of a famous shoot-out that is sourced from diaries, letters, and newspapers of the time

GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes an eloquent and monumental history of the many different groups that have opposed imperialism with tactical violence

HELEN MERCER recommends a timely history of the Civil Service worker organisation that proposes a principled and strategic approach for the future

ALAN McGUIRE welcomes the complete poems of Seamus Heaney for the unmistakeable memory of colonialism that they carry

MATTHEW HAWKINS enjoys the work of reading the essays of a rigorous and leading London/Caribbean cultural participant

GORDON PARSONS is fascinated by a musical — and questioning — survey of Shakespeare’s attitude to women

JOHN GREEN explores the controversial and popular images of the late Martin Parr, made in the heyday of Thatcherism

BILLY BRAGG on the role that music can play in resistance to state-sponsored violence

JOHN GREEN, MARIA DUARTE and LEO BOIX review The Shepherd and the Bear, Hamlet, Twinless, and 100 Nights of Hero

MARIA DUARTE recommends an extraordinary film that explores an absent father’s attempt to make up to his sons

GEOFF BOTTOMS applauds a version set amid the violent conflicts of the 19th century west African Oyo empire before the intervention of British colonialism

Chris Searle speaks to saxophonist LARRY STABBINS

by Allan Gaw

SEAMUS HIGGINS introduces some basic facts about the role of sugar in driving a worldwide crisis of diet-related diseases

MICHAL BONCZA welcomes a new version of a classic of British working class literature that should be placed on every school English syllabus

Japanese innovation, Costa Rican skullduggery, Glasgow Central suicide, and good deeds punished in London

GILL PARSONS introduces the remarkable process by which her childhood experience of a convalescent home has become a new drama

GEOFF BOTTOMS applauds a timely and necessary play that explores the experience of neurodiverse twins

New releases from The Orb, Meredith Monk, and Marconi Union

The bard distills our hellish times into fiery words

CONRAD LANDIN picks his highlights from Celtic Connections, and makes his recommendations for the last weekend

ANDY HEDGECOCK revels in a hugely enjoyable but deadly serious examination of the 1930s, that is an indictment of our own era

MARK TURNER applauds Michael Sheen’s determination to revive a Welsh National Theatre with Thornton Wilder’s study of love, loss and community

RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a new film that features Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn, and their personal experience of media misrepresentation

JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime

MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson

KEN COCKBURN guides us through a survey of Chekov’s early short fiction, and the groundwork it laid for his later masterpieces

MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Is This Thing On?, Nouvelle Vague, Kangaroo, Shelter, and Melania

JOHN GREEN savours an elegy to black farmers in the deep south of the US: a vanishing way of life redolent with poetic and political meaning

Climate activist and writer JANE ROGERS introduces her new collection, Fire-ready, and examines the connection between life and fiction

by Victor Osemeka

WANJA KIMANI explores the many bonds of community experience expressed in in the bold and colourful imagery of a new mural

RUTH AYLETT appreciates the rich blend of poetry and music that accompanied the launch of the Morning Star’s anthology of poetry, Who We Are

ELEANOR DOBSON reflects on a stark visual record of the violent desecration of Tutankhamun’s mummified remains

New releases from Keeley, Lucinda Williams and Ye Vagabonds

MARY CONWAY applauds a brilliant two-hander that blows the lid off the abortion debate and rips your heart to shreds

RON JACOBS welcomes a timely biography of a contemporary of Marx and Engels who advocated revolutionary socialism

RICHARD CLARKE welcomes a study that extends an understanding of Marxism beyond human society to encompass the whole of nature

Despite an underwhelming finale, FIONA O CONNOR relishes a vivid exploration of the Cinecitta of Pasolini and Fellini at their height

PAUL DONOVAN enjoys a brutally honest rags to riches memoir of the actor’s life, even if it clearly lacks any political insight

With satirical portraits of leftist rebels in two acclaimed films today, GREGORY FRAME traces the roots of Hollywood’s relationship to civil protest

JAN WOOLF ponders the works and contested reputation of the West German sculptor and provocateur, who believed that everybody is potentially an artist

MARIA DUARTE and MICHAL BONCZA review The History of Sound, H Is For Hawk, Saipan, and Mercy

MARIA DUARTE recommends a surreal and brilliant take on corporate lay-offs and their consequences

by Jamie Lynch

DENNIS BROE unpicks the subterfuge by which the BBC claims to represent working-class prison life in a new series

JULIA THOMAS unpicks the mental processes that explain why book-to-film adaptations so often disappoint

CONRAD LANDIN thrills to the voice of 79-year-old Emmylou Harris, that is enriched rather than compromised by the gravel of experience

RICHARD MURGATROYD appreciates a study that urges us to think about water differently, as a living entity with its own logic and intelligence

The debut novel by Uruguayan Eugenia Ladra, and poetry by Gerardo Diego

New releases from Zulu Guitar Blues, Fela Kuti, and Amadou & Mariam

CHRIS SEARLE urges you not to miss two powerful performers playing three nights that will celebrate the great pianist/composer Thelonious Monk

IAN SINCLAIR revels in the reissue of great recordings by one of the most recognisable and radical voices in British music

BRENT CUTLER welcomes a valuable contribution to discussions around the need to de-carbonise energy production

STEVE ANDREW is intrigued by a timely and well-researched book that demonstrates the conflicted history of the central Asian country

JOHN GREEN’s palate is tickled by useful information leavened by amusing and unusual anecdotes, incidental gossip and scare stories

GAVIN O’TOOLE welcomes a book that sets the assassination of Brian Thomson in the context of radical individualism — lost in a vast pick-and-mix of ideologies

SIMON PARSONS applauds an original, visual and movement-based take on the birth and death of a relationship

The bard contemplates X — anti-human vomit soup with dog shit croutons — and the Tory recycling bin that is Reform

ALAN MORRISON recommends an outstanding and timely anthology of poems that reflect the experience and consequences of African migration

BINOY KAMPMARK examines the food racket as evidenced by the recent promotion of Italian cuisine to the status of ‘intangible national heritage’

FIONA O’CONNOR and MARIA DUARTE review State of Statelessness, Rental Family, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, and The Rip

MARIA DUARTE recommends that this dramatic reconstruction of one instance of the Israeli killings in Gaza be seen as widely as possible

WILL SCHULER praises a stripped-back ‘anti-naturalist’ production of Arthur Miller’s drama about a corrupted family business

by Matt Gilbert

MATTHEW HAWKINS contrasts the sinister enchantments of an AI infused interactive exhibition with the intimacies disclosed by two real artists

DENNIS BROE surveys the new wild west: a technology that aims to “innovate” so fast that no government regulation or union negotiation can keep up

ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes a graphic portrayal of the corrosive impact of commodification, but can’t sympathise with the characters

ABIGAIL HARRISON MOORE welcomes a BBC prison drama that shows the importance of the classroom as a space to influence personal and social change

New releases from Van Morrison, Tyler Ballgame, and Dry Cleaning

JOHN WIGHT celebrates a new account of the life of the great British boxer and communist Len Johnson

STEVE ANDREW appreciates a passionate account of the Scottish Club during the ‘lost decade’

By telling the story of a lawless frontier town from the point of view of the Lakota, Chinese labourers, prostitutes and displaced prospectors, makes for a potted history of capital, suggests ALEX HALL

RON JACOBS welcomes a timely history of the Anti Imperialist league of America, and the role that culture played in their politics

JAN WOOLF surveys a national hoard of silver and gold

TONY BURKE speaks to Gambian kora player SUNTOU SUSSO

ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Good Night, and Good Luck: Live from Broadway, Becoming Victoria Wood, Hamnet, and Song Sung Blue

MARIA DUARTE recommends a British boxing biopic about the stormy relationship between Nazeem Hamed and his trainer Brendan Ingle

PETER MASON applauds a stage version of Le Carre’s novel that questions what ordinary people have to gain from high-level governmental spying

By Hamish Wilson

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Filipino-US saxophonist JON IRABAGON about the threat of AI in the time of Musk and Trump, and how an artist can respond

BETH DRISCOLL points out the value of print books in community culture and the barbarism of destroying libraries in Bosnia, Ukraine and Gaza

PETE HIRST introduces a theatre company from Wakefield dedicated to the propagation of socialist perspectives on present British political realities

JENNY FARRELL reminds us that the US novelist, famed for pulp fiction and nature stories, was, by virtue of life experience, a committed revolutionary socialist

BRENT CUTLER recommends a sober examination of the real risks and true merits of nuclear energy, and an exposure of the capitalist system as an obstacle to human betterment

MARY CONWAY recommends a spot of exquisitely staged, if socially unchallenging, escapism written 250 years ago

A deeply pleasing festive crime wave

Looking for moral co-ordinates after a tough year for rational political thinking and shared human morality

If true, the photo’s history is a damning indictment of the systematic exploitation of non-Western journalists by Western media organisations – a pattern that persists today, posit KATE CANTRELL and ALISON BEDFORD

Two inspring books — that’s your New Year’s musing from me on January 2 2026

JAN WOLF enjoys a British revival of the 1972 come of age farce/panto Pippin

A year of rich offerings that would have pricked any and all ears

By Rebecca Lowe

New releases by Porridge Radio, The Cribs, and Bjorn Meyer

Looking for moral co-ordinates after a tough year for rational political thinking and shared human morality

Although sitting was tight, DAVID NICHOLSON has had a whale of a time especially when joining in the sing along finale

BEN CHACKO salutes the Morning Star cartoonists

LUCY BURKE recommends a brilliantly compelling piece of ‘theatre verite’

JOSEPHINE BARBARO welcomes a diverse anthology of experiences by autistic women that amounts to a resounding chorus, demanding to be heard

PAUL BUHLE recommends an eminently useful book that examines the political opportunities for popular anti-fascist intervention

PETER MASON is entertained by the autobiography of Charlie Harper, one of punk’s most enduring figures

JAMIE BRITTON reaches for the sick bucket as he is forced to engorge detail after detail of the Royal Family’s wealth

by Jonathan Andersen

PAUL DONOVAN relishes the candour of a historian who refuses to whitewash the crimes of British imperial history

MARIA DUARTE picks the best and worst of a crowded year of films

STEVE JOHNSON picks his favourites from the many memorable albums of the year, and one stunning new festival

SIMON DUFF picks his favourites, from radical African-inspired electronic rhythms to improvisations on the organ

MARY CONWAY takes pride in the sheer variety of theatre, from updated revivals to new plays, on offer in London

From feminist manifestos to exiled lovers to mythic islands, LEO BOIX selects the best fiction, poetry and non-fiction

For GORDON PARSONS, a dramatic exploration of the abuse of young men at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre trumps Beckett, a couple of Hamlets and a bracing Candide

FIONA O’CONNOR picks books and films that show defiance in the face of violence and injustice

From pop anthems that take on patriarchy to masterful Gaza-themed Oud-playing, IAN SINCLAIR picks his best albums of the year

JEAN ROBERTS appreciates the way traditional panto can be remodelled into critique of the academy schools system

MARY CONWAY delights in a rarely performed comedy that recalls a Britain we remember in our bones

JOE GILL speaks to the Palestinian students in Gaza whose testimony is collected in a remarkable anthology

MARY CONWAY is riveted by a superbly crafted glimpse into the soul of a cast-off US star

SCOTT ALSWORTH searches for something – anything – worth recommending from the year’s releases

Although this production was in rehearsal before the playwright’s death, it allows us to pay homage to his life, suggests MARY CONWAY

IAN SINCLAIR recommends an important and timely book for climate politics right now and in the future

ROGER McKENZIE recommends a landmark study of black journalism in Britain that is a wake-up call to prioritise working-class struggles, where black people are recognised as an important part of the class

STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away

ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review The Six Billion Dollar Man, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Goodbye June, and Super Elfkins

MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama

CHRIS SEARLE picks his favourite albums of the year

GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic

by Miriam Spillane

DENNIS BROE waded through 89 TV series this year, and picks the wheat from the chaff

MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters

SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime

RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today

CHRIS SEARLE recommends an upcoming concert by the leading exponent of cross-cultural music-making in Britain

Artist of the Year is, without a doubt, BC Camplight. Meanwhile the touring started in earnest, details here 

GORDON PARSONS relishes an adaptation of Dahl’s children’s tale, but issues a warning for the over 11-year-olds

DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world

JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing

GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist

ALAN MCGUIRE relishes a celebration of handmade craftsmanship in the UK, and hears a quiet warning

HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean

SIMON PARSONS is fascinated by a play about the Iraq war where the carnage haunts those still alive

At a tragic but farcical meeting at Heathrow Terminal 3, bigotry is concealed, sporting history is recalled, and a novelty wine bottle is creatively re-purposed. By John Hawkins

MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Preparation for the Next Life, The Tale of Silyan, Eleanor the Great, and Who, If Not Us: The Fight for Democracy in Belarus

LEO BOIX recommends the vivid story of a Brazilian hustler, reminding us that survival is rarely a solo act

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to Mexican/Uruguayan drummer GUSTAVO CORTINAS about the ecological conscience expressed in his new album

by Curtis Brown

SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible

JENNY FARRELL relishes an intimate memoir about growing up in the household of the great Irish communist and playwright Sean O’Casey

GORDON PARSONS is impressed by superb acting in a stripped down version of John Galsworthy’s epic family drama

SIAN LEWIS relishes a comprehensive account of high rise social housing in Britain by prize-winning social and political historian Holly Smith

SIMON PARSONS feels a little overwhelmed by the joke count of an ebullient production that manages to convey Stoker’s Dracula without corpsing

SIMON PARSONS applauds an intriguing story of two Pakistani women working in Woolworths on the eve of the millennium

SYLVIA HIKINS enjoys a varied Scouse alternative to traditional pantomimes

Rereleases from The Pentangle, The Charlie Daniels Band, and Cousins and Willoughby

ANDY HEDGECOCK picks out his cultural highlights of 2025

Star cartoonist MALC MCGOOKIN finds lessons for today in the punch, and the economy of line, of an extraordinary generation of illustrators

ANDY CROFT welcomes the publication of an anthology of recent poems published by the Morning Star, and hopes it becomes an annual event

LEO BOIX, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review Dreamers, It Was Just An Accident, Folktales, and Eternity

MARIA DUARTE recommends an intimate portrait of Jacinda Ardern, only the second prime minister to give birth while holding office

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 Cabaret Voltaire'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

JAMES WALSH speaks to Chris Thorpe-Tracey - among many things, a one-time Morning Star columnist — about songs, cities, politics and prophecy

by Sally Lewis

DENNIS BROE situates the new Netflix series House of Guinness within a genre that is dazzled by the perverse spectacle of capitalist domination

New releases from Max Richter, Julius Asal, and Jean-Michel Jarre  

New releases from Cuban pianist Aruan Ortiz, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, and London pianist Geoff Castle

RON JACOBS applauds a reading of black history in the US that plots the path from autonomy to self-governance and then liberation