ANDY HEDGECOCK, MARIA DUARTE and ANGUS REID review Synthetic Sincerity, Our Hero, Balthazar, Heartstopper Forever, and A Year In London
John Berger, The Underground Sea: Miners and the Miners’ Strike
Edited by Tom Overton and Matthew Harle
Canongate, £16.99
ANY book which owes its existence to the talent and compassion of John Berger should revere and uphold his extraordinary legacy. This one falls short.
Scheduled to mark the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike, this slight volume may seek to dig deep, yet it barely scratches the surface.
MARY DAVIS welcomes a remarkable documentary about the general strike — politically spot on, and featuring accounts from the strikers themselves — that is available for screenings
KEVIN DONNELLY accepts the invitation to think speculatively in contemplation of representations of people of African descent in our cultural heritage
JOHN GREEN welcomes a remarkable study of Mozambique’s most renowned contemporary artist
OLIVER SNELLING, a south London stonecarver and yeoman stonemason, relates how he is helping bring about a new festival next month


