Category: Book reviews
-
This woman won’t wheesht about Palestine
I think one of the most disastrous things that’s happened as our lives moved online is that ‘block’ function on social media. I think we’ve brought up a generation of humans who can’t cope with the fact that they can’t block everyone they don’t like in real life. What’s even more destructive is that it’s…
-
Not a single firefighter, police officer or soldier had come
“Nearly 20 minutes had passed since Huda and her staff had come across the burning bus … she and the UN nurses gently carried burned children to waiting volunteer cars…” The drivers would take the burn victims to “the nearest accessible hospital. For most of them, that was Ramallah. The hospitals in Jerusalem were far…
-
Sweet little UXB
Why am I tempted to say ‘this is a sweet little book’? It’s no such thing and anyway, I don’t say things like that but I’m trying to figure out how Xiaolu Guo has cunningly disguised an unusual and important piece of work as a sweet little book. The rare and quiet determination of someone…
-
Jewish not Zionist: an invitation from JVL
Leah Levane, Co-Chair of JVL (Jewish Voice for Labour) kindly wrote the introduction to the UK edition of Marilyn Garson’s latest book, Jewish not Zionist. Her introduction summarizes how the situation we are now challenging in Israel / Palestine came about. It covers the Balfour Declaration, and the likely motivations behind it, and how the…
-
Rule One: Don’t give up
There’s lots to do, and plenty of people are in action, learning more every day about how it’s done. First, how it’s not done: I think most people have worked out that our party-political system is – if not broken, certainly captured, and not doing what it says on the tin. It’s taking us a…
-
The day I got Twit-mobbed
Or, Munitions, mobs and mobile phones So here’s a blog I never got around to sharing much back in November 2023… I am posting it now because of a sudden, someone somewhere is sharing it and it reminded me of the way that day went, and how that story links up what I think are…
-
The most extraordinary thing I learned from Marilyn Garson
There are 30 million Christian Zionists in the United States, and there are only 16 million Jews on the planet. Therefore the colonialist project known as Zionism is not primarily a Jewish force. What’s more, with the rise of post-colonialist, anti-racist attitudes in the younger generation, the overlap between Jews and Zionists is getting steadily…
-
An entirely selfish request
(A request from me that is, not Richard Medhurst, who is merely asking that random police forces could please stop arresting him and nicking his kit.) It’s like this: I’ve been reading The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff. It’s the size of a brick, but not really the kind of brick you’d take…
-
Why planes crash – and why they usually don’t
Former airline pilot and media aviation commentator Terry Tozer discusses the Washington collision Thursday 30th January 2025 Reagan Airport Washington DC – Fatal Mid Air collision At around 8.50 pm, an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ regional jet on approach to Reagan airport was involved in a collision with a US Army Blackhawk helicopter. Both aircraft…
-
DT stands for delirium tremens
“Delirium primarily involves alterations of attention and is characterized by a fluctuating course, difficulty with concentration, and altered mental status. Tremens refers to the tremors seen in patients with delirium tremens.” Shall I say DT instead of Donald Trump from now on? It happens around the third day a person is deprived of (or chooses…
Kay Green 