MARK TURNER wallows in the virtuosity of Swansea Jazz Festival openers, Simon Spillett and Pete Long

Blowback: The Road to Manchester
Directed by Mark Curtis and Phil Miller
(Declassified UK)
NOTING “the traditional media have never covered British foreign policy accurately,” Mark Curtis has explained he co-founded Declassified UK with Matt Kennard to “provide public service journalism … to inform the British public what is being done in their name.”
Since it was set up in 2019, the investigative news website’s three staff journalists have arguably published more critical reporting of UK foreign affairs than the rest of the British media combined. And somewhat fittingly, with the admirable exception of the Morning Star, the British media have all but ignored Declassified UK’s output.
For example, while the 2011 UK-Nato intervention in Libya has been largely forgotten by the British commentariat, Declassified UK has repeatedly exposed Britain’s nefarious interference in the North African nation.

Reviews of new releases by Jens Lekman, Big Thief, and Christian McBride Big Band

IAN SINCLAIR reviews new releases from The Beaches, CMAT and Kathleen Edwards

From training Israeli colonels during the slaughter to protecting Israel at the UN, senior British figures should fear Article 3 of the Genocide Convention that criminalises complicity in mass killing, writes IAN SINCLAIR

New releases from Cassandra Jenkins, Ryan Davis & the Roundhouse Band, and Case Oats