Ross McKibbin
This Isn’t Working Anymore
The People’s Flag and the Union Jack: An Alternative History of Britain and the Labour Party
By Gerry Hassan & Eric Shaw
Biteback 356pp £25
This is a book written for the times – indeed for this particular moment. A certain kind of Englishness, incoherent and by no means shared by all the English, is driving the United Kingdom out of the European Union, regardless of the consequences, while a certain kind of Scottishness, by no means shared by all Scots, has brought Scotland to the point of independence and, therefore, all of us towards the end of the United Kingdom as we know it. What happens to Northern Ireland is anyone’s guess. Of the two major parties, Labour has probably suffered most from the upheavals caused by the warring nationalisms of the United Kingdom, though the Conservatives have fared little better. Gerry Hassan and Eric Shaw’s aim is to account for this. Their book attempts to study Labour’s relationship with Britishness and to explain why Labour was apparently so unprepared for the political and electoral turmoil of the last decade.
The authors suggest that there are five strands in Labour’s political and ideological history. The first is unreformed parliamentarianism, which they see as playing a central role. The second is the expansion of the state and the urge to centralise. The third is the party’s constitutional conservatism and commitment
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