DOUGLAS FIELD relishes the hard-boiled language, satire and humour of the third and last of the Harlem trilogy
Blowback: The Road to Manchester
Directed by Mark Curtis and Phil Miller
(Declassified UK)
NOTING “the traditional media have never covered British foreign policy accurately,” Mark Curtis has explained he co-founded Declassified UK with Matt Kennard to “provide public service journalism … to inform the British public what is being done in their name.”
Since it was set up in 2019, the investigative news website’s three staff journalists have arguably published more critical reporting of UK foreign affairs than the rest of the British media combined. And somewhat fittingly, with the admirable exception of the Morning Star, the British media have all but ignored Declassified UK’s output.
For example, while the 2011 UK-Nato intervention in Libya has been largely forgotten by the British commentariat, Declassified UK has repeatedly exposed Britain’s nefarious interference in the North African nation.
IAN SINCLAIR examines the curious memory lapses across liberal media when it comes to British government crimes
A US air strike in north-west Nigeria, publicly framed as a Christmas act of counterterrorism, reveals a deeper shift in how power is exercised in Africa, argues RAIS NEZA BONEZA
On January 2 2014, PJ Harvey used her turn as guest editor of the Today programme to expose the realities of war, arms dealing and media complicity. The fury that followed showed how rare – and how threatening – such honesty is within Britain’s most Establishment broadcaster, says IAN SINCLAIR
Starmer sabotaged Labour with his second referendum campaign, mobilising a liberal backlash that sincerely felt progressive ideals were at stake — but the EU was then and is now an entity Britain should have nothing to do with, explains NICK WRIGHT


