The Consolations of Coltrane
A new novel by Kevin Stevens tells of the frustrations and confusions of adolescence, the precarious position of immigrants in an indifferent or hostile host society and the consolations of friendship, love and music.
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Turned Out Nice Again
Artists and painters have long been fascinated by the weather and have not ceased to be so even in an era where mystery and religious speculation have largely moved over for science. Our tendency to worship nature suggests a question: is God the thing we see when we look up?
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Port In A Storm
Many Irish over the centuries sought refuge in Liverpool, and once they arrived there didn’t go far, settling in Vauxhall near the docks or on Scotland Road. The local MP, TP O’Connor, represented Liverpool Scotland as an Irish nationalist from 1885 until his death in 1929.
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A Literary Terrorist
One critic has compared reading Charles Maturin’s Melmoth to climbing Mount Everest, yet the novel continues to appeal, in part perhaps because of its role in creating a genre that is still potent in global culture –in Hollywood movies, popular music and manga animation.
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The Pleasures of Destruction
Book-burning is a recurring element in our cultural history, though mostly the authorities have found censorship and regulation more effective. For the people, however, a good show is always popular and great satisfaction can often be derived from the destruction of symbolic goods.
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Women in the Library
Like teaching, librarianship is a profession that has long been associated with women and offered them employment opportunities when many other paths were closed off. And occasionally too they were cherished.
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Hope Springs Eternal
In 1983 the British Labour Party campaigned on a radical left-wing manifesto that delivered it its worst general election result since 1918. Now, it seems, it wants to do it all over again.
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Yellow socks and guacamole
Is an apparent lack of intellectual or cultural sophistication an essentially English trait? It is certainly one that can bear fruit for the populist politician.
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Democracy and Numbers
Does democracy mean that everyone has the right to have their will implemented? What if it clashes with everyone else’s will?
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The Tories, Europe and Scotland
If the UK votes to leave the European Union could Scotland be dragged out against its will? And in those circumstances could another independence referendum be resisted?