Book reviews
Early on Andrew Doyle sets out how the definition of social justice has changed due to a new identity-based conceptualisation bringing with it a mistrust of unfettered speech. He goes on to point out how this has given us the confusing and rare phenomenon: the well-intentioned authoritarian. With authoritarianism comes censorship – or as it has now been termed – cancellation
There were high hopes with this Spanish literature issue. Having read latin American novels before I've enjoyed the creativity especially Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Trying to impose an American model of financing football in Britain is a broken one
Intrusion is a meditation on a near future where life is regulated with a high level of morality and ethics. Extrapolated ideas on what that may look like a quite restrained with the occasional AI toy and truck. The main…
With reportage and memoir for the industrial revolution, cholera, and coronavirus pandemic and fiction about a wandering father this was an inconsistent edition but with enough to justify it.
We are only at the beginning of AI in real life, but fiction is much further down the road of debate. This novel was an opportunity from an esteemed writer, Kazuo Ishiguro, attempts to bring to life the soul of an AI. In this case, Klara, an Artificial Friend with exceptional observational qualities. Can one be both artificial and a friend?
The Assault on Truth by Peter Oborne is a short rant, sometimes repetitive, but mercilous and meticulously researched with references to justify its ethical message: Johnson is corrupt and the media has colluded with him. That Johnson has more than a passing similarity with Trump in his pursuit of power at any price and his (past) conspirators like Cummings helped him in his mission.
What is currently on my radar: music, politics, books etc. What I am reading The British in India by David Gilmour. A social history of the Raj.Fascinating and readable journey about what made India different as a British colony to…
Granta has drifted over the past few issues to this one so it was a welcome return to form. This issue was a sideways step from the usual publication with a theme in that it had a guest editor –…
This is a lengthy biography of Barack Obama’s time when he became senator up to the end of his first term as president. The early section on his growing up has been covered before and yet gives little away how…
