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

Inside the Mind of Xi Jinping
by Francois Bougon
(Hurst £12.99)
ONE of the most powerful politicians on the planet, Chinese leader Xi Jinping still remains a puzzle to many Western observers.
Taking the helm at a crucial point in China’s development path as it rises to middle-income levels, Xi’s focus on advancing his country’s modernisation, while firmly rejecting Western economic and political models, has provoked considerable panic among Atlanticist liberals and corporate conservatives alike.

From 35,000 troops in Talisman Sabre war games to HMS Spey provocations in the Taiwan Strait, Labour continues Tory militarisation — all while claiming to uphold ‘one China’ diplomatic agreements from 1972, reports KENNY COYLE

The creative imagination is a weapon against barbarism, writes KENNY COYLE, who is a keynote speaker at the Manifesto Press conference, Art in the Age of Degenerative Capitalism, tomorrow at the Marx Memorial Library & Workers School in London

