GORDON PARSONS is bowled over by a skilfully stripped down and powerfully relevant production of Hamlet
Good instincts, bad analysis
With respect for the authors’ intentions, JOHN GREEN demonstrates the lack of class consciousness that undermines their critique of dysfunctional Britain
In which we accompany the Bard into Cymru to meet his musical accomplices, young and old
SUE TURNER is inspired by the example of a librarian’s struggle to confront the book-banning movement
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews I Am Martin Parr, September Says, The Monkey, and The Gorge
RITA DI SANTO applauds a touching and witty opener that touches a hot topic in Germany: the future of the immigrant population
SIMON PARSONS is discomfited by an unflichingly negative portrait of motherhood and its trials
Head North - A Rallying Cry for a More Equal Britain
Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram
Trapeze, £22
ANDY BURNHAM, Mayor of Greater Manchester, and his mate Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, became so disillusioned with Westminster politics that they decided together to pack in their MP day jobs and go for two mayoral positions in the north. They felt they would be able to do more up there in terms of helping their own people, and make a real difference.
I’ve always had respect and admiration for both Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham, as two of the very few MPs who are genuinely concerned about the welfare of their constituents, have a basic decency, strong principles and a genuine humanity.
In this jointly written book, they argue strongly for a different kind of politics that would address the stark inequalities in Britain and the north-south divide.
More from this author
JOHN GREEN is dissatisfied with a book that fails to address the promotion of ignorance as a ruling-class strategy to maintain control
JOHN GREEN takes issue with a mainstream novel designed to denigrate the GDR
JOHN GREEN advises caution when reading a highly informative account of the way thousands of top Nazis escaped justice and found employment in the West
Driven on by novel forms of hard-right populism like Modi and Trump, European neofascists are skillfully rebranding themselves and taking power by copying the left's language — just as they did in the last century, writes JOHN GREEN
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