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Nothing, says ANDY HEDGECOCK, can rescue this undistinguished amalgam of ponderous melodrama and shallow philosophical speculation
Revelatory readings of the Spanish civil war
Paul Simon reviews ¡No Pasaran! by Pete Ayrton
JAMIE BRITTON invites readers to visit 3,500 locals as part of a marathon artistic pub crawl
JOHN GREEN welcomes a valuable and incisive analysis of a world become hyperpolitical but without the mass movement institutions to represent it
JAMES WALSH is moved by a provocative and original take on the relationship between ecology and architecture, and a plea to work with, not against, the materials and minerals of our world
An immersive, participatory display by a queer Australian Aboriginal performer, and a rebellious unravelling of traditional Scottish dance
¡No Pasaran! Writings from the Spanish Civil War by Pete Ayrton (Serpent’s Tail, £20)
SELECTED and introduced by Serpent’s Tail’s founder Pete Ayrton, ¡No Pasaran! offers something outside of the ordinary.
Ayrton — rightly — contends that the English public’s understanding of the war is too tightly constrained by that of a handful Anglo-Saxon commentators. Without eschewing contributions from George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway and Lee and Esmond Romilly, he and his collective of translators express the previously half-hidden or totally ignored voices of writers from Spain and other countries in this collection of memoirs and fictionalised accounts.
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SUE TURNER recommends a rich and varied selection of the letters, diaries and memoirs of British volunteers
![Richard Baxell speaking at the Marx Memorial Library in London [Pic: Karl Weiss]](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/desktop/public/2026-07/RichardBaxell22Jul23.jpeg.webp?itok=HCh8iPRb)
Driven by anti-fascism and anger at Britain’s policy of non-intervention, thousands volunteered to fight in the Spanish civil war. Historian RICHARD BAXELL reflects on their sacrifices and enduring significance
CJ ATKINS commemorates one of the most dramatic moments in working-class history
Spanish dictator Francisco Franco died 50 years ago today November 20. JIM JUMP looks back at his blood-soaked rule and toxic legacy on Spain today