Reviews of A New Kind Of Wilderness, The Marching Band, Good One and Magic Farm by MARIA DUARTE, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA
Latest editorial
Taken for a ride
CARLOS MARTINEZ recommends a book on the ruthless exploitation of Deliveroo food couriers
Struggling against immiseration: a Deliveroo worker in Bristol
SCOTT ALSWORTH foresees the coming of the smaller, leaner, and class conscious indie studio, with art as its guiding star
MARJORIE MAYO recommends an accessible and unsettling novel that uses a true incident of death in the Channel to raise questions of wider moral responsibility
MIK SABIERS wallows in a night of political punk and funk that fires both barrels at Trump
Reasonable radicalism, death in Abu Dhabi, locked-room romance, and sleuthing in the Blitz
SIMON DUFF recommends a new album from renowned composer and oud player Anour Brahem.
JAMES WALSH has a great night in the company of basketball players, quantum physicists and the exquisite timing of Rosie Jones
Riding for Deliveroo
by Callum Cant
(Polity, £14.99)
INTRIGUED by the news of the first Deliveroo workers’ strikes in 2016, Callum Cant decided to conduct a “workers’ inquiry” by signing up to be a cycle courier for the increasingly popular food platform.
Riding for Deliveroo describes his experiences over the course of eight months, taking in the nature of the work, the ruthless and sophisticated methods of exploitation and the workers’ response to it.
Cant describes how Deliveroo is constantly tweaking its process so as to ensure its wage bill is as low as possible. When it starts up in a given city, it will typically offer a reasonable hourly rate in order to attract couriers. Then, once it has a surplus labour force, it will move to a per-delivery piece-work system in order to intensify the work in busy periods and reduce costs in quiet ones.
More from this author
CARLOS MARTINEZ condemns Europe’s failure to develop genuine autonomy from US hegemony, as leaders like Starmer and Macron cling to a declining imperial order rather than building good relations with the emerging powers
Chinese socialist planning and action over decades have created the world’s greatest reforestation programme, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ, and now its lessons in fighting desertification and climate change are taking root worldwide
Despite relentless hostility, the People’s Republic of China has lifted millions out of poverty, and become a global leader in innovation and climate action, while pursuing peaceful development in a multipolar world, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
Brussels is following the US’s lead in slapping punitive duties on China’s electric vehicles, sabotaging Europe’s climate goals and economic interests to appease Biden’s anti-Beijing crusade, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
