The biggest gap in the biographies of many prime ministers concerns their use of intelligence. Histories of the postwar Labour government, for example, give no hint that Clement Attlee, at his own request, had far more private meetings with the director-general of MI5 than any other 20th-century prime minister. Books on the Blair years, by contrast, show much
Outsourcing is everywhere these days. The contracting out of public services to private-sector companies is a familiar mechanism that’s broadly understood to be in the interests of cost-saving, administrative efficiency and innovation. Yet it is also one that often leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth. Even those who argue – as I have certainly […]
Tom Fletcher CMG was foreign policy spin doctor to Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron between 2007 and 2011 before becoming British ambassador to Lebanon, where he served until 2015. ‘I’ve learned a huge amount from this job,’ he writes. ‘If I’m honest, I’m completely knackered. It’s been a demanding posting.’ Fletcher has since […]
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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