Category Archives: Review

Book Review: Nigel Williams ~ The Wimbledon Poisoner (1990)

Posted on April 6, 2020 by

Williams, The Wimbledon Poisoner, is a black comedy, which is, of course, tasteless in the extreme. The focus is Henry’s desire to kill his wife Elinor. After some thought he decides that the only method he can do is poisoning. … Continue reading →

Posted in Humour, Literature, Review | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Thomas Penn ~ The Brothers York: An English Tragedy (2019)

Posted on March 30, 2020 by

Thomas Penn’s day has come! Who’d have thought an academic work on the York brothers would be of the moment? Well he has Hilary Mantel to thank. She’s turbo-charged medieval history into a central position with her Thomas Cromwell trilogy. … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Literature, Politics, Review, War | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Helen Cresswell ~ Bagthorpes Unlimited (1978)

Posted on March 26, 2020 by

Coronavirus fatigue makes you want a laugh, a ‘laugh out loud’ laugh. Helen Cresswell’s series The Bagthorpe Saga was my first point of call. Bagthorpes Unlimited is her third book and is a total joy from start to finish. The … Continue reading →

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Film Review: The Irishman ~ (Robert de Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci) (2019)

Posted on March 9, 2020 by

Robert de Niro and Martin Scorsese have had a long, profitable and illustrious career together. Their latest film, The Irishman, is astonishing. Although I dislike gimmick laden films this one is different. Here the gimmicks are central to the purpose … Continue reading →

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Book Review: David Graeber ~ Bullsh*t Jobs: A Theory (2018)

Posted on March 2, 2020 by

Freakonomics (2005) unleashed populism amongst university professors. They realised they could sex up their academic work by judicious selection of the bizarre and get a best seller, fame and fortune. Graeber’s an LSE professor of anthropology has joined in. A … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Souvenir (Tom Burke and Honor Swinton Byrne) (2019)

Posted on February 20, 2020 by

If you’re bored with franchise CGI films, find ‘Look at me Mum, I’m brave’ documentaries tedious, dislike political satire, hate ethnic films, or reading a novel whilst watching a film – reading at the cinema?- then Souvenir is for you. … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Abhijit V Banerjee and Esther Duflo ~ Good Economics for Hard Times – Better answers to our biggest problems (2019)

Posted on February 10, 2020 by

It’s easy to feel intellectually intimidated by a book by two Nobel Prize winners and perhaps that’s the right response sometimes. On this occasion it isn’t.* This is a readable and homely book written in an accessible way. The ‘biggest … Continue reading →

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