MARIA DUARTE, LEO BOIX and ANGUS REID review Brides, Dead of Winter, A Night Like This, and The Librarians

America in Retreat
by Michael Pembroke
(Oneworld, £20)
IT TOOK newly elected President Joe Biden a little over a month before he authorised military strikes on Syria, allegedly in response to rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.
A week later, his Vice-President Kamala Harris publicly declared opposition to a recently announced International Criminal Court probe into Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Biden’s election was supposed to mark an end to the rogue presidency of Donald Trump who, refusing to accept he lost the election, left office after rallying his supporters to storm the Capitol building on January 6.
![BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE: Yanaocha mine in Cajamarca, Peru is the largest gold mine in South America operated by Newmont Corporation. It is considered the most profitable in the world [Pic: Elbuenminero/CC]]( https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/low_resolution/public/2025-09/extractive%20caoitakism%20webpic.jpg.webp?itok=DEObb5jr)
JOE GILL appreciates a lucid demonstration of how capital today is an outgrowth of the colonial economy

JOE GILL looks at research on the reasons people voted as they did last week and concludes Labour is finished unless it ditches Starmer and changes course

