CATHERINE STEEL relishes a compelling novel about Augustus’s right hand man, but misses the politics, the cultural shifts, and more detail about his restoration of Rome
A New Politics from the Left
by Hilary Wainwright
(Polity Books, £9.99)
THIS book is a reminder of why Hilary Wainwright is one of contemporary British socialism’s most perceptive and thoughtful writers.
Yet, while there is much which the socialist reader will agree with and be intrigued by, hers is by no means a perfect analysis in advancing ideas about a “new politics” from the left.
SETH SANDRONSKY recommends a Marxist critique of the ‘race-first’ views of the influential black US theorist Cedric Robinson
Renewed illusions in social democratic reformism are sprouting as a result of Andy Burnham’s rhetoric, but material conditions are already intruding into the debate, argues NICK WRIGHT
While Italy’s communist tradition remains fragmented and politically marginal, France’s party is attempting to re-establish itself as an independent force rooted in working-class organisation, says NICK WRIGHT
JOHN REES replies to Claudia Webbe



