Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones
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Jonathan Coe - A novelist who takes politics seriously
JOHN GREEN recommends that rare thing, a British novelist who is politically aware, entertaining and who writes to the moment
CLASS STRUGGLE: In the long history of strikes at British Leyland, (L) in 1956 a striker at the Austin car works at Longbridge, Birmingham, attempts to stop a vehicle entering the factory. The strike was called by trade unions following the dismissal of 6,000 workers
SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US
In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre
JOHN GREEN doubts the motivations of a US war photographer who never questions why, or for whom, she is producing images of imperialist conflict
MARIA DUARTE reviews Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, Hedda, The Mastermind, and Regretting You
TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice
PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK
WE are living through one of the worst crises of capitalism globally, and in Britain we have consecutively experienced several of the most incompetent and callous governments in living memory. But where are the contemporary novelists tackling this rich seam of material? I don’t see any Jonathan Swifts or George Orwells, not even anyone like US authors Philip Roth or Barbara Kingsolver.
There is, however, a lone exception and that is Jonathan Coe. He is the only contemporary English novelist I know of who grapples viscerally with the political and social crisis we are experiencing.
Born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in 1961, he has long been interested in both music and literature.
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