Red Plenty Francis Spufford. Faber and Faber 2010, Hardcover, 448 pages, £9.00 It’s rare to see anything brave or daring emerge from a mainstream publisher these days. For the most part, they are inhibited by those who cling more dearly to accounts ledgers than fine literature and as a result are perpetually unprepared to take [...]

Food, Inc [DVD] [2009] Eric Schlosser (Primary Contributor). Dogwoof Ltd 2009, DVD, £8.15 It’s difficult to diet. It’s usually at the point that one decides to cut back that chocolates, cakes and cookies seem to lay in wait in supermarkets and farmers markets, ready to pounce upon one’s tastebuds. The scent of sizzling steak or [...]

Capitalism – A Love Story [DVD] [2009] Michael Moore (Primary Contributor). Paramount Home Entertainment 2009, DVD, £6.00 I am not a big fan of Michael Moore’s work. This isn’t because of a big difference in political outlook, but rather, it’s because he suffers from a condition endemic in Hollywood: a tendency to oversimplify. I do [...]

Nothing to Envy Barbara Demick. Granta Books 2010, Paperback, 272 pages, £12.62 If there was a competition for the “most pointless” country in the world, North Korea would be a strong contender. It has built up a preposterous cult of personality around a political non-entity, and military might on top of a base of impoverished [...]

The End of the Party Andrew Rawnsley. Viking 2010, Hardcover, 816 pages, £12.46 I bought this tome shortly after its publication; however, I didn’t get around to reading it until I had to contend with less than optimal circumstances. On March 17, my paternal grandmother died; a day later, I was on my way to [...]

Movies about the apocalypse are commonplace. Late last year, audiences were “treated” to the latest in a long line of films which contemplated the end of the world, namely “2012″, which was based on a ridiculous misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar. Like many of its ilk, it was little more than a demonstration of advanced [...]

Apart from “I love you”, perhaps the most dangerous statement in the English language is “Things couldn’t get worse”. In my experience, uttering this phrase is an invitation for evil to arrive. Indeed, I have wondered if the present Prime Minister has said it more than a few times. Faced with a teetering economy, he [...]

Going to see a Harry Potter film bears a similarity to attending a family reunion, particularly if the relatives live far away. At each event, one expects changes, one sees changes: the kids grow up, the adults get older. There are interesting stories to tell about the intervening period and much to catch up on, [...]

It’s atypical to write a review of a play after it closes: perhaps such an item bears closer resemblance to an epitaph. However, it’s impossible for me to let a production of Cyrano de Bergerac to pass unnoticed. I admit this is partially due to the fact that I am a Cyrano aficionado: this work [...]

My introduction to the works of Samuel Beckett was botched. It occured in an undergraduate English course, whose purpose was to examine less than common texts, and sadly I had a less than common lecturer. Unfortunately, he was more fixated on talking about Freud’s ideas on children playing with their excreta (and how we’re actually [...]