When the ravages of Alzheimer’s leave an elderly woman marooned in painful memories of October 1950, her grandchild comes up with a creative strategy.
Brutal Wales/Cymru Friwtalaidd
Simon Phipps
September Publishing, £30
WHEN you think of Wales, do you think of the imposing medieval fortresses of Conwy and Caernarfon built by Edward I to subdue those “mere Welshmen” who objected to his invasion of their land? Or perhaps the industrial scars of slate and slag and towering craggy mountains, shrouded in grey? These dramatic views are among the things that draw tourists from around the world to Cymru.
Also to be found, but not in any holiday brochures, are many barely noticed examples of postwar brutalist architecture, which you could argue have a similarly bold aesthetic, that remain largely unloved, neglected and endangered.
LUKE FLETCHER outlines Plaid Cymru bold plans for wide-ranging policy consultations with trade unions in Wales
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
If true, the photo’s history is a damning indictment of the systematic exploitation of non-Western journalists by Western media organisations – a pattern that persists today, posit KATE CANTRELL and ALISON BEDFORD
HENRY BELL notes the curious confluence of belief, rebuilding and cheap materials that gave rise to an extraordinary number of modernist churches in post-war Scotland


