arts
some dark secrets are revealed. This stylish, very middle class, very British film is shot entirely in black and white.
Comedy/music
Lefty Scum Touring the UK This is a lefty’s dream tour – comedy, music and revolutionary socialism in one fun-filled evening. Comedian Josie Long, singer-
songwriter Grace Petrie and comedy- singer-songwriting duo Jonny and the Baptists have announced 10 dates in October and November (fewer if the world ends). A source tells Arts with Attitude:
“We welcome audiences of all political persuasion, though the acts warn that, if you are a Tory, they will most probably take the piss out of you.”
https://jonnyandthebaptists.co.uk/ lefty-scum-tour/
Music Billy Bragg Touring the UK Even if you hadn’t heard the title of his latest tour – Bridges Not Walls – you might have guessed the Bard of Barking is no fan of Donald Trump. “Music can’t change the world but it does have the power to bring people together,” he says. “In such divisive times, it seems a good place to start.”
www.billybragg.co.uk
Nadine Shah Touring the UK Nadine Shah’s new album, Holiday Destination, is an astonishing piece of political post-punk. Inspired by Kos holidaymakers
Spotlight The revolution will be televised
It may not have escaped your notice that this year is the centenary of the October Revolution, when the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd and installed a Soviet government. Well, that’s the official version. You
won’t be surprised to learn the details are contested – a point reflected in its
representation in film, from commissions for the Revolution’s 10th anniversary to the Hollywood versions in the 1960s and 1980s. Retired NUJ member Ian Gasse is
helping to organise a film festival exploring interpretations of the revolution in cinema. Speakers will introduce the films,
including Warren Beatty’s Reds, Eisenstein’s October, David Lean’s Dr Zhivago, Pudovkin’s The End of St Petersburg and Chris Marker’s The Last Bolshevik. Representing Revolution runs on 27-29 October at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
www.rbcft.co.uk
Book review State surveillance and the ABC trial revisited
In his book The History Thieves, journalist Ian Cobain says every post-war generation has had its own whistleblower who has tried to expose the extent to which governments monitor public communications. For the 1970s, this was the ABC
trial, which shone a light into the darker corners of state surveillance and uncovered an unprecedented effort to criminalise journalists. Named after the three defendants
– reporters Crispin Aubrey and Duncan Campbell, and former soldier John Berry – the ABC case attracted huge interest as the government mounted a prosecution in turns farcical and ferocious. The trial
revealed much about state surveillance and the lengths to which the government would go to keep its activities secret. On 3 November, Berry and
Campbell will take part in a panel discussion to look at the events 40 years on and consider its legacy. They will be joined by the family
of Crispin Aubrey, who died in 2012, as well as by former defence barrister Michael Mansfield, ABC campaigner and journalist Tony Bunyan, and the NUJ’s senior campaigns and communications officer Sarah Kavanagh. Organised by The Crispin Aubrey
Legacy Fund in partnership with the University of the West of England’s
Department of Film and Journalism, it takes place at the Arnolfini in Bristol.
www.crispinaubrey.org
shunning refugees arriving on the island’s shores, the British singer of Norwegian-Pakistani descent doesn’t hold back: “Where would you have me go? I’m second generation, don’t you know?” Buy her album, see her live, listen to her message.
http://nadineshah.co.uk
Books Wearing The Trousers By Don Chapman Oxford Mail columnist – now NUJ life member – Don Chapman recalls the time in 1971 when a
reader popped into his office with some papers relating to the Western Rational Dress Club – 19th century women described as
first-wave feminists calling for emancipation from the constraints
of Victorian fashion. Now, more than 40 years on, he has written a book about it. “You might have thought the battle
over women’s trousers had long since been won,” he says. “Not a bit of it. Thanks to the Taliban and IS, they are now banned in countries where they have been everyday wear since time immemorial.”
www.amberley-books. com
The Next Blue Note By Joe Neal Joe Neal has worked at many newspapers – the Western Mail, the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Sketch and Daily Express – as a news reporter and sub, but now he focuses on writing poems.
His latest collection, a 92-poem
compendium reflecting an interest in music, particularly jazz, is described as moving from “perfectly preserved moments in harmony with nature to offbeat observations on life, love and music”.
http://tinyurl.com/yb7zatx4
Exhibition
Love the Words Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea This exhibition tells the story of Dylan Thomas’s life, work and legacy from his birth in Swansea in 1914 to his death in New York
in 1954. A temporary exhibition – I Might
Want To Smile – runs until the end of the year, focusing on his early work, from poems written at school to doodles and drawings.
www.dylanthomas.com
Cuban Notebook - Photographs by Larry Herman Ruskin College Oxford until October 13 then touring trade union venues Cuban Notebook is a small part of a much larger portfolio in the permanent archive of the Confederation of Cuban Workers) in Havana and was first shown in a 2017 Mayday exhibition in Cuba.
larry@larryherman.net
theJournalist | 21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28
