Sects and ‘new left’ disillusionment. Mike Macnair reviews P Blackledge, N Davidson (eds) Alasdair MacIntyre’s engagement with Marxism: selected writings 1953-1974, Brill (Historical materialism series),... »
T.V.
The day of the Triffids (director: Roland Emmerich); 2012 (director: Nick Copus)
Apocalypse: cop-out or engagement Jim Moody reviews ‘The day of the Triffids’ BBC1, December 28-29, Roland Emmerich (director); ‘2012′ general release, Nick Copus (director) Apocalyptic science fiction has been a staple of cinema for decades, though seldom rising above the level of sensationalist and thinly spread suspense, more or less evidently contrived. At the end of... »
Mike Leigh at the BBC (six-disc box set DVD)
Brilliant social commentator Jamie Moloney reviews Mike Leigh at the BBC (six-disc box set DVD), 2009, £43.95 Mike Leigh, like Ken Loach (Kes, The wind that shakes the barley) and Shane Meadows (Dead man’s shoes, This is England), is part of a progressive force within British cinema. His unorthodox method of building the script in collaboration with... »
‘White season’
BBC’s White season promotes division, says James Turley Some documentaries are precise and subtle, like a scalpel. Others are rough and forceful, like a meat cleaver. BBC2’s Rivers of blood, a bit of pop-history centring on Enoch Powell’s eponymous speech, was a sledgehammer. There is a moment, not very far into the film, when the narrator... »
Nigella Express
Class cookery Lawrence Parker reviews Nigella Express (BBC2 Mondays, 8pm) Before watching this series I was not aware that celebrity chef Nigella Lawson harboured a secret. You see, dear reader, Nigella is just like us. As the working... »
Doctor Who
Jeremy Butler reviews Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who (BBC1) Five episodes into the second series of the new Doctor Who and it is still going from strength to strength. The show is consistently pulling in viewing figures... »
The Insurgency
Eddie Ford reviews The insurgency, BBC2 April 2 Sunday 9-10pm With the United States administration now making threatening noises against Iran, this commendable documentary exposed the brutal reality – and consequences – of imperialist war and occupation.... »
The road to Guantánamo- Michael Winterbottom
Jim Gilbert reviews Michael Winterbottom’s The road to Guantánamo (Channel 4, March 9 2006) Michael Winterbottom (In this world; 24-hour party people; Welcome to Sarajevo), in his now masterly fashion, brings home to viewers of his (and... »
When Satan came to town
Don Williamson reviews BBC’s When Satan came to town, an unsettling documentary about social workers obsessed with the idea that a whole working class estate in Rochdale was experiencing ritual satanic child abuse Eddie Ford’s ‘Victims and... »
The root of all evil?- Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins The root of all evil? Channel 4, Monday January 9 and 16, 8pm In this two-part “consciousness raising” exercise, Richard Dawkins attacks the “process of non-thinking called faith” – a process which will continue ... »