Paul Lay
Anglosphere of Influence
How We Invented Freedom & Why It Matters
By Daniel Hannan
Head of Zeus 399pp £20
The success of the London Olympics in 2012 can be traced to its opening ceremony. For the first time in generations, an attempt was made to create an aspirational myth from the history of the British Isles. The filmmaker Danny Boyle, aided by the writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, forged a journey from pastoral to industrial, which attempted to draw lessons from a century of managed decline, tempered by decades of cultural creativity. Quirky and self-referential, it offered a leftish tale of mild decadence, multiculturalism and a deep reluctance to reform the state religion of the NHS.
In this readable and provocative volume, Daniel Hannan attempts to do something similar for the Right, though his reading of history is more substantial and, in some of its inspirations, surprising. For example, Hannan, a small-state Conservative MEP of an unashamedly Whiggish bent, puts the Levellers of the mid-17th century
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm