Funder reveals how O’Shaughnessy Blair self-effacingly supported Orwell intellectually, emotionally, medically and financially ... why didn’t Orwell do the same for his wife in her equally serious time of need?’

Eileen M Hunt: Feminism vs Big Brother - Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life by Anna Funder; Julia by Sandra Newman Since leaving the corporate world, I realise that putting shareholder value above all else will destroy the future of our children. The poet Jo Clement gives voice to the stories and people of her family’s Romany past. In her collection Outlandish she has no time for Romantic impressions of British Gypsy ethnicity as she moves from ancient stopping-places to decaying council estates. Her poems are imaginative protests that cast light on a hidden and threatened culture. The book is at its best as a piece of reportage; powerful stories of individuals told with empathy.The book covers topics such as unequal health outcomes, addiction, aspiration, class and much more, using this lens to show how inured many people's lives are from seeing the reality around them. David Gelber: Chancellors & Chancers - Austria Behind the Mask: Politics of a Nation since 1945 by Paul Lendvai My main issue is this. As an immigrant myself and from own experience Britain's concept of poverty seems to be through the a capitalist lense, excessive materialism and consumerism.

As I steadily plod on in years, the number of experiences I've had that reflects Darrens commentary or insight similarly grows. I've seen first hand the effects that Darren discusses in his book, not least due to living in similar communities but also in working in the homelessness sector in Scotlands biggest city. He absolutely hits the nail on the head with this commentary and explains valuable and thought provoking concepts in an incredibly real and expressive manner. I found myself saying 'Exactly!' out loud several times in agreement with his, and other folks, observations. He analyses the failures of both Tory and Labour governments and of both the Blairite right wing in the Labour party and the Corbynite left wing.

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Possibly an uncomfortable read for the mandarins in British politics, but that's exactly the reason this book should be taken seriously. Following the defeat of the Nazis in 1945, the idea took hold that Austria had been the first casualty of Hitler’s aggression when in 1938 it was incorporated into the Third Reich.’ The RRP is the suggested or Recommended Retail Price of a product, set by the publisher or manufacturer. Appropriately enough, The Social Distanc e Between Us feels like a huge and sometimes onerous book. McGarvey divides it into three “acts” and begins with 11 chapters that cover homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, the treatment of immigrants, land ownership, the benefits system and much more. His freewheeling writing style sometimes feels too digressive – one minute he’s explaining the Peasants Revolt of 1381, the next he’s on to the appeals system used by the latter-day Department for Work and Pensions. He occasionally tumbles into suggestions of a stark divide between working-class angels and toffee-nosed villains, as when he makes the improbable claim that imperialism, racism and sexism were “all ideas either dreamed up or imported from overseas by highly educated, sophisticated and wealthy individuals”. Given that his primary focus is Scotland and his past criticisms of the SNP, there is also a noticeable reluctance to pin any blame for the issues he explores on 15 years of government by that party, which, despite Nicola Sturgeon’s impeccable working-class credentials, has failed to get to grips with Scotland’s howling inequalities (and, for that matter, the country’s huge issues with addiction and drug-related deaths). McGarvey asks potent questions about the links between our school systems and a low-end labour market millions of us are only too happy to take advantage of It is a book that managed to make me both sad and angry. It made me question myself, living in a middle-class bubble, oblivious to others.