Chris Searle speaks to producer/film-maker RITA HARGRAVE about the new album Renegade Queens

by Claire Booker

WILL STONE is frustrated by a performance that chooses to garble the lyrics and drown the songs in reverb

STEVE JOHNSON salutes the mellifluous tones and clear-minded political message of a uniquely relevant Birmingham-born singer-songwriter

TOM KING casts a wary eye over this stage adaptation of Hollinghurst’s survey of metropolitan gay life in Thatcher’s Britain

RITA DI SANTO points out the social experience of exploitation and oppression that inform the popular winners at this year’s festival

PETER MASON is tickled by a new book and exhibition that mine the rotten anachronism of the monarchy for laughs

A Nazi zeppelin whodunnit, death amidst detoxification, a twistaholic’s delight, and noir fiction for criminals

DAVID MCKINSTRY appreciates the life and art of writer, songwriter, singer, socialist and Republican, Dominic Behan

New releases from The Dreaming Spires, Bruce Springsteen, and Chet Baker

TOM STONE urges you to catch the last dates of a New York singer/songwriter, never afraid to challenge her audiences musically or politically

WILL STONE in entertained, and some, by the Irishman Shobsy and the Dutch/Kiwi combo My Baby

JAN WOOLF examines work that aims to give viewers a material experience of the environments in the polar north and Britain equally affected by the climate crisis

The bard recalls advice received 50 years ago from his TRB muse, and sorts out appropriate legislation for football club ownership

STEVE ANDREW enjoys an account of the many communities that flourished independently of and in resistance to the empires of old

KENNY MACASKILL recommends an informative and highly readable exposure of the asbestos industry

JOHN GREEN enjoys a highly informative stroll through the evolutionary history of trees and planetary life

MARTIN GRAHAM casts a critical eye over an informative study of the fact that solar power - universally available - is now cheaper than fossil fuels

MICHAL BONCZA and MARIA DUARTE review Facing War, Kontinental ’25, Bugonia, and Relay

ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends a cinematic glimpse of the role of the British in establishing the zionist state

MAYER WAKEFIELD is frustrated by a production of Ibsen’s classic study of an anti-heroine that fails to elucidate her motivations

PETER MASON tunes his ear into the domestic affairs of a Carribbean couple with a troublesome son

by Fiko D

Evidence points to a Scottish provenance for the extraordinary Irish illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells, suggests RACHEL MOSS

This stunning film about a Bulgarian textile worker highlights the exploitative nature of Euro-capitalism, says RITA DI SANTO

CHRIS SEARLE relishes an account of the years when a black American music carried a message of anti-racism and class struggle

GEORGE FOGARTY is captivated by a brilliant one-man show depicting life in HMP Strangeways

PETER MASON thrills to Irish folk band The Haar

Reviews of Habibi Funk 031, Kayatibu, and The Good Ones

SIMON DUFF relishes the cross contamination of Damien Hirst’s greatest hits by street artists from France and the US

RITA DI SANTO draws attention to a festival whose dedication to Palestinian cinema and experience is like no other

In view of the grooming gangs inquiry, SIMON PARSONS feels the relevance of this powerful examination of trauma suffered at Medomsley Youth Detention Centre

ALEX HALL is disappointed by a superficial investigation of how consumer choice can be influenced, that ignores the fact that most never have such a choice

PAUL DONOVAN welcomes an inspiring account of living with deafness that has important lessons for the treatment of deaf people in today’s UK

MARJORIE MAYO recommends a compelling account of how women survived a Nazi concentration camp and lend their experience to today’s fight against the far right

TONY CONWAY welcomes a thrilling and concise history of Hope not Hate, that is also a manual full of tactical advice