New releases from The Jim Mullen Quartet, Caroline Kraabel/John Edwards, and Matthew Muneses/Riza Printup
Take back the land for the common good
PAUL DONOVAN applauds a highly important book that appears at a crucial time in the present biodiversity and climate crisis
JAN WOOLF wallows in the historical mulch of post WW2 West Germany, and the resistant, challenging sense made of it by Anselm Kiefer
ANA ISABEL NUNES points to the empowering legacy of Augusto Boal’s Theatre Of The Oppressed
CARLOS MARTINEZ welcomes the publication of the writings of the great Palestinian author, political theorist and spokesman for the PFLP
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE review Cottontail, Memoir of a Snail, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and Captain America: Brave New World
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by an account of the long history of Catholic Church’s involvement in espionage
ROGER McKENZIE welcomes an important contribution to the history of Africa, telling the story in its own right rather than in relation to Europeans
The Lie of the Land
Guy Shrubsole, William Collins, £22
THIS book provides vital reading for government ministers, activists and anyone who cares about the future of the planet.
Guy Shrubsole reveals how the limited number of people who own land in Britain have overseen the trashing of this asset under the guise of being good stewards.
There are telling statistics, such as that just 5 per cent of the land is taken for private homes and gardens. This figure rises to 8.8 per cent if the definition is extended to all land built on. A further 73 per cent is farmland and 10 per cent forestry.
More from this author
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.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
A landmark work of gay ethnography, an avant-garde fusion of folk and modernity, and a chance comment in a great interview
ANGUS REID applauds the inventive stagecraft with which the Lyceum serve up Stevenson’s classic, but misses the deeper themes
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A green campaigner’s new book argues that large landowners have used their self-proclaimed role as ‘stewards of the countryside’ to deflect attention from the environmental damage that their activities cause. Professor CHRISTOPHER RODGERS reports
NICK WRIGHT sets the record straight on the controversy that has been whipped up by wealthy right-wing windbags like Clarkson and Farage, which will only really affect a tiny minority of super-rich land hoarders
