Michael Burleigh
‘It’s the Culture, Innit?’
The form of George Walden’s new book is as arresting as its content. Imagined members of his own family ask ‘Dad’, in the wake of an eight-year-old grandchild’s having been knocked unconscious by some marauding Somali, whether it is ‘time to emigrate’. Replying from vacation in southern France, Walden hurries off a 200-page reflection about modern Britain rather than a brief email, fax or letter. The answer to the question in the title is ‘try it for a bit’ – ‘it’ being America or France, although I’d personally recommend John Howard’s Australia.
This epistolary form is a highly effective vehicle for Walden’s thoughts on the current state of our nation. The writing is brilliant in a leisurely sort of way, as befits a retired homme d’affaires and senior politician, while the tone ranges from the wincingly coruscating to the darkly comic. Having
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
‘He has become a kind of global guru, public intellectual and consultant to the great. He is the ultimate geopolitical gerontocrat.’
From July 2022: Piers Brendon on Henry Kissinger.
Piers Brendon - Margaret Thatcher As I Knew Her
Piers Brendon: Margaret Thatcher As I Knew Her - Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy by Henry Kissinger
literaryreview.co.uk
‘Even setting to one side the historically neuralgic relationship with ... Ireland, Britain’s insular periphery has from at least the time of the Romans presented difficulties for authorities wishing to centralise.’
Peter Marshall on Britain's islands.
Peter Marshall - Notes from the Atlantic Archipelago
Peter Marshall: Notes from the Atlantic Archipelago - The Britannias: An Island Quest by Alice Albinia
literaryreview.co.uk
Offer ends soon! Take advantage of our best ever Black Friday offer and get a year's subscription for £29.99.
https://www.mymagazinesub.co.uk/literary-review/promo/blackfriday/