arts byMark Fisher


Books > Different Times: a History of British Comedy David Stubbs Out now, Faber


The music, film, TV and football journalist turns his attention to British comedy, its relationship with society and the attendant debates about cancel culture. https://tinyurl.com/26degtgc


The Explorer and the Journalist Richard Evans Out now The History Press Philip Gibbs, once a Fleet Street


In depth > Taboo, loss and recovery


Allan Radcliffe’s debut novel is not about journalism – but the Edinburgh author says working as a journalist helped him get it written. “Journalism and creative


art are two different forms but there is a lot of overlap,” says the feature writer and critic for The Times. “You still need to apply


rigour and a keen editorial sense. You need to ruthlessly edit. “If you’ve had any kind


of career in journalism, it does eventually strip you of your ego. “You have to get used to


working with editors and not being too precious about everything you do. I can imagine some people resenting that whereas I was really open to it.”


22 | theJournalist Written in


characteristically crisp and clear language, The Old Haunts is about a man coming to terms with the sudden loss of his parents. As he escapes to rural


Scotland with his new boyfriend, he finds himself processing unresolved feelings.


“It’s about a slow


estrangement with these wonderful parents,” says Radcliffe, whose own mother died suddenly after he had completed a first draft. “You bring your own


insights and experience, but that’s alongside pulling in things you have heard or researched and things you made up,” he notes. It is a novel about


relationships, love and recovery, but the author also writes with political intent. “Anyone in their 40s


will have been coming of age at the time of section 28,” says Radcliffe, whose short stories have been published in anthologies and broadcast on BBC Radio 4.


on everything from torture in Iraq to drone bombings by the west. https://tinyurl.com/2kmqwknr


legend, risked his reputation by casting doubt on the claim by explorer Frederick Cook to have reached the Arctic in 1909. The journalist was publicly derided but triumphed when proved right. https://tinyurl.com/2keq8yfm


Journalism in Retrospection Nisar Ali Shah Out now


Hansib Publications The long-time NUJ member spent 35 years working on London magazines and newspapers. He brings together 101 of his articles. They include reviews, obituaries and opinion pieces


Exhibitions > Philip Guston Tate Modern, London October 5-February 25 The trauma of 20th-century politics


“It’s almost


unimaginable now but, for me, there was no open discussion about sexuality and same-sex relationships at all.” He considers the


personal effects ofthis law: “Section 28 was responsible for a lot of pain and damage. Because you couldn’t come out before you’d left home, you effectively had to become a liar to your parents.” He adds: “You were so


starved of any representation, when you saw something like My Beautiful Laundrette late at night on Channel 4, it was a huge revelation. I get emotional thinking about it. Hopefully, people coming out today feel less lonely.” The Old Haunts, Allan


Radcliffe, Fairlight Books, October 14 https://tinyurl. com/2753cpf7


Bolton International Film Festival October 5-9 (online 11-22) This includes short films, talks and masterclasses, covering documentary, animation, women in film, dance, music and fashion. https://tinyurl.com/2zah5a8u


Dublin Theatre Festival September 28-October 15 This event routinely fields international companies alongside the cream of Irish work from the main stage to the site specific. For the next generation of talent, turn up earlier in September for the Dublin Fringe Festival. https://tinyurl.com/2d4wt9c7


Films >


Bobi Wine: the People’s President In cinemas, September 1 Documentary by Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp about Ugandan actor and musician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, aka Bobi Wine, who ran for the presidency in 2021, offering an alternative to the country’s illiberal regime. https://tinyurl.com/2b3ulzj4


Last Dance at the Discotheque for Deviants Paul David Gould Out now Unbound The author, a journalist at the FT, takes us to the underground gay scene of post-Soviet Moscow in a thriller about a young man who comes out only to be betrayed by those closest to him. https://tinyurl.com/2phkff4z


makes itself felt in the paintings and drawings of an artist born in Montreal to a family of Jewish immigrants. His concerns included fascism, antisemitism and the Ku Klux Klan. https://tinyurl.com/2gqwgc97


Festivals > Bloomsbury Festival London October 13-22 The multi-arts festival includes two free performances of Dancing, Trouble-Making, Taboo!: 19th-Century Rule Breakers (2pm and 4pm, October 22), written by journalist Julia Pascal for her Pascal Theatre Company, with students from London Contemporary Dance Theatre. Staged in the Royal National Hotel, it shines a light on the pioneering names of Sophia Jex- Blake, Eliza Orme and Helen Cox. https://tinyurl.com/2a3pdsha


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