JOHN GREEN surveys the remarkable career of screenwriter Malcolm Hulke and the essential part played by his membership of the Communist Party
Right wing dicks in their boiler suits
It is painful that Donald Trump used David Bowie’s music during his campaign when the singer’s work was directly critical of his politics, judges PETER KENWORTHY
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Last Breath, Sister Midnight, Opus, and The Electric State
HENRY BELL is moved by the account of scientists under seige in Leningrad who preferred to starve rather than sacrifice their life-saving work
RUTH AYLETT recommends two anthologies: one that bears witness to refugee and immigrant experiences, and the other to our political relationship to water
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
A no-nonsense ex-Garda female cop, Scandi-noir’s newest flawed hero, the lure of Aussie gold, and unexpected decency in Silicon valley
JAN WOOLF doubts that soft-core musical is the best way to transmit an important story of heroism and resistance
SHOULD we be afraid of Americans, as Bowie sang in the 1990s, or expect anarchy in the USA, to paraphrase the Sex Pistols? Donald Trump is back for a second term, and it could become a presidency of dissonance, a kind of vaudeville requiem for a lot of us.
In the next four years he and his donor and Department of Government Efficiency head, Elon Musk, could after all end up disrupting everything from the American economy and democracy, to climate change, Canada, Panama and Greenland, Britain and Germany, the football club Liverpool FC, and the music business.
Donald Trump certainly likes a good tune. His 2024 election campaign was steeped in music with more or less positive messages – from gay anthem YMCA to Beyonce’s Freedom, even though many of these musicians have been less than enthusiastic about Trump using their songs, including David Bowie’s son. Trump has used Bowie’s Heroes, Rebel Rebel and Starman.
More from this author
While German leaders talk independence and even the Tories promise to speak truth to America, the Labour leader grovelled before a president whose comments he once called ‘absolutely repugnant,’ writes PETER KENWORTHY
PETER KENWORTHY on the Tory wipeout, Labour landslide and the changing character of British politics
As Starmer claims Downing Street with a whimper, not a roar, his party’s dwindling membership and anaemic vote share lay bare the crisis of representation, writes PETER KENWORTHY in the last of his four-part series on the election
In the third of his four-part series on the general election, PETER KENWORTHY looks at Keir Starmer's moves to shift Labour right, and how some independent candidates used that to challenge the party
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