Hassan Akram
Review: ‘The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the United States, and the Middle East 1979-2003’ by Steve Coll
Tyrants should only be brought down by their own people; they become martyrs when brought down by foreigners.
‘The Godfather: Part II’ at fifty
The Godfather: Part II is a film about gangsters. It is also a film about corruption, power, betrayal, succession, revenge, religion, marriage, generational change,...
Bust?: Saving the Economy, Democracy and our Sanity by Robert Peston and Kishan Koria- Review
"So long as we have an economic system geared towards the accumulation of wealth rather than the acquisition of it, inequalities will continue to widen"
The Roaring Twenties
"The Roaring Twenties (1939), freshly remastered this year in 4K, is the last and greatest gangster film of the 1930s."
The man of the moment: Review of Keir Starmer: The Biography by Tom Baldwin
"Baldwin does his best to humanise Starmer and to deflate the view of him as “Mr Boring”."
Empireworld: How British Imperialism Shaped the Globe (Sathnam Sanghera, 2024): Review
Without confronting the wrongs of the past, the wrongs of the present will go on unabated.
The Oscar Best Picture Winner You’ve Never Heard Of
"With the Oscar nominations for 2024 having been released in anticipation of March’s ceremony, it is worth looking back on a former Best Picture winner that has never got its due."
Flapping wings: taking the chicken scene by storm
There are two KFCs in central Oxford – one on Cowley Road and the other on Cornmarket – and until a few years ago...
Murder is Easy- Review
"It’s unsurprising that the BBC’s latest Agatha Christie series, Murder is Easy, has managed to precipitate a full-scale conflict."
Feel Good Films — British 1950s Comedies
When I'm shattered after a long essay, or brooding over the state of the world, or merely wanting to enjoy a pleasant few hours,...
Decline and fall: How They Broke Britain by James O’Brien – review
"Today, in the wake of Brexit, Britain is once again broken – so argues commentator James O’Brien in his new book, How They Broke Britain."
A bubble within a bubble?
"There must be more to this trend than the general tide of anti-Tory feeling which has been swelling up everywhere since at least the start of Partygate."
