GEOFF BOTTOMS relishes a profoundly human portrait of a family as it evolves across 55 years in Sheffield
Uncomfortable view of incarceration
RELIC OF THE PAST? HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in London
[Chmee2/Creative Commons]
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
The Life Inside: A Memoir of Prison, Family and Philosophy
by Andy West
Picador £16.99
AUTHOR Andy West’s life has been inextricably linked to prison, with his father, brother and uncle all having served time. Now he himself is in prison, not for any crime, but to teach philosophy to inmates.
This thoughtful debut, like an underworld version of Sophie’s World, tells a deeply personal story — full of struggle, insight and dark humour — through the lens of philosophy and West’s compelling conversations with prisoners. Although at times it becomes apparent who is teaching who.
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