Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Why curry is no longer an alien import
The relationship between Britain and India is made accessible and entertaining through the lens of a personal story, says PAUL DONOVAN
crombie
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
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
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
Thank You Mr Crombie – Lessons in Guilt and Gratitude to the British
Mihir Bose
Hurst, £25
JOURNALIST Mihir Bose has produced a fascinating book chronicling his life: growing up in India, then moving to Britain, where he eventually works his way into journalism.
The title, Thank You Mr Crombie, refers to a letter Bose wrote some years later thanking the civil servant, John Crombie, who confirmed his permanent right to remain in Britain in 1975.
The great attraction of the book is the many avenues it travels down. These include the world of being brought up in a traditional Hindu family, in post-independence India. Then, the changing face of Britain that the young Bose encounters in the 1960s and early ’70s, a world that changes in the second half of the 1970s, as racist attitudes harden, with the National Front on the streets. Bose encounters racism from football supporters, as well as landlords — turning him away from renting rooms due to the colour of his skin.
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While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
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
