The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
Mike Westbrook and the Uncommon Orchestra
A Bigger Show
(ASC Records, CD162-163)
In their new double album, A Bigger Show, Mike and Kate Westbrook together with the 20-piece Uncommon Orchestra introduce us to all the propositions, juxtapositions and contradictions of the “showground of life,” a sonic venue of our planet where “Hot-shot cash-back with steady-growth gilt-edge must lie/ Self-absorption will with free choice and knowledge grope and sigh.”
It is our 21st-century world in miniature, a “waxeywork show” of the grotesque and the beautiful, the tender and the brutal, all sparking from this “jazz-rock oratorio.”
CHRIS SEARLE speaks to US saxophonist CAROLINE KRAABEL
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a new album featuring Pat Thomas and Ahmed, and marvels at the tempestuous power of a live performance
As part of the 2025 London Jazz Festival Rich Mix offered intriguing sessions titled 'Persian Jazz,' CHRIS SEARLE was there
New releases from Kennedy Administration, Melanie Pain, and Afton Wolfe


