MARIA DUARTE defends a solid, late-career Spielberg conspiracy flick that calls for empathy in a hostile world
Latest editorial
Books: Review - The State We Need by Michael Meacher
LUKE JAMES reads the veteran MP's 'uncompromisingly positive vision' of the changes Britain needs
MARIA DUARTE, SCOTT ALSWORTH, ANDY HEDGECOCK and ANGUS REID review The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford, Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway, Time and Water, and Strictly Ballroom
STEVE JOHNSON recommends a beautiful album of songs that celebrate summer, from May Day onwards
New releases from Joe Wilkes, Honey and the Bear, and Hannah James and Toby Kuhn
Given the power of the live experience, MIK SABIERS recommends Jon Spencer’s new album
Reviews of T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, Tamikrest, and Dub Colossus
The State We Need
by Michael Meacher
(Biteback Publishing, £18.99)
Once fabled festivals of debate and democracy, party conferences are now bemoaned as mere political pep rallies, led by identikit cheerleaders chanting vacuous slogans. If they're not being stage managed by spin doctors, then they're being upstaged by former spin doctors.
Labour conference delegates vote for policies which their leaders have already agreed will never be pursued. Unable to speak or cast even a token vote, the dwindling number of their Tory counterparts nod obediently like novelty dogs while their masters bark their noxious rhetoric.
Similar stories
ALEX HALL is fascinated by a lucid and historically convincing account of how rent has dominated capitalist economies from feudalism to modernity
As six out of 10 Argentines don’t vote for Milei LEONEL POBLETE CODUTTI looks at the country’s real crisis that runs far deeper than just the ballot box
Across the country readers are rallying to the People’s Paper’s cause. Star campaigns manager CALVIN TUCKER has some handy ideas on how to get involved
Timeloop murder, trad family MomBomb, Sicilian crime pages and Craven praise