GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Eras end and begin together
Treading common ground at a time of loss and gain
ALT-COUNTRY EXCELLENCE: Naomi Bedford and Paul Simmonds
PAUL DONOVAN applauds an excellently crafted new musical that explores the life and death of Ruth Ellis
PAUL DONOVAN is tickled by the excruciating take-downs of one of the funniest, wittiest, political writers around.
RON JACOBS points out, via a transcription of Kissinger’s secret recordings, that Trump could never have existed without Nixon and Kissinger
ELLIS RAE is persuaded that the advantages of the ‘talking cure’ are superior to the treatment of mental illness with drugs
JOHN GREEN, MICHAL BONCZA and BELLA KATZ review The Good Boy, Broken English, and Don't Be Prey
Sorry to miss my last column. It was my brother’s funeral. He was 29 years older than me, elder son of our father, who was born in 1899. I wrote this poem for his funeral and decided to share it with you.
My Brother, Uncle Don
End of an era. Goodbye ‘Uncle Don’.
I’ve known you all my life, and now you’re gone.
My parents said that’s what I should call you
When I was three and you were thirty-two
But soon I said, ‘Mum, “Uncle’s” just polite.
Don’s not my uncle. He’s my brother, right?’
So this precocious kid just called you Don —
For over fifty years, and now you’re gone.
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