MARK TURNER holds on tight for a mesmerising display of Neath-born ragtime virtuosity
Attlee and Churchill by Leo McKinstry
Revealing account of two politicians who were allies in war and adversaries in peace
ORGANISED: Clement Attlee
[Pic: Howard Coster] 
ALAN MORRISON introduces a UK poet whose despised daytime occupation provides the subject for his writing
MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long
PAUL DONOVAN recommends three new books that explore the human relationship with nature
Doomed adolescents, when the missing person is you, classic whodunnit, and an anti-capitalist eco-thriller
WILL STONE takes a ticket to indie disco heaven, but misses the rarely performed tunes
THIS fascinating study of Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill focuses on how their lives became intertwined almost from the very beginning, leading to a great linkage during the second world war and separate, but still in many ways parallel, lives thereafter.
Author Leo McKinstry has certainly done his homework in discovering those parallels. In 1911, Churchill had one of his periodic rushes of blood to the head when, as Home Secretary, he personally supervised the “Siege of Sydney Street” in east London.
At the same time Attlee, working at a charitable organisation where his experiences saw him move from his early conservatism to socialism, wandered by as the Sydney Street drama reached its climax, a gunfight between two Latvian revolutionaries and the police and army.
More from this author
PAUL DONOVAN recommends three new books that explore the human relationship with nature
PAUL DONOVAN recommends an excellent stage adaptation of Stephen King’s classic portrayal of the the injustice of the US prison system
Labour councillor PAUL DONOVAN wonders why the right-wing party gets so much more media attention than it seems to merit
PAUL DONOVAN relishes the spectacle of a 1950s detective in pursuit of a 500-year-old murder mystery
