MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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Partygate is a symptom of Tory authoritarianism
GAVIN O’TOOLE recommends a brilliant analysis of how Covid was used to erode civil liberties and sideline Parliament
BONANZA: Personal protective equipment (PPE) at NHS warehouse. It is estimated £10bn were lost to unsuitable or overpriced PPE
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The missing sister, the vengeful WAG, cruise ship claustrophobia, and reanimated Avengers
Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
Emergency State: How We Lost Our Freedoms in the Pandemic and Why It Matters
by Adam Wagner
The Bodley Head, £14.99
A SLOW but sure descent into an authoritarian dystopia has been gathering pace during Britain’s unlucky 13 years of Conservative rule, and has accelerated since Boris Johnson plotted his way into office.
Yet it has taken Covid to consummate the concentration of executive power and bonfire of rights set out in Adam Wagner’s brilliant analysis. The author summarises the legal vandalism during the pandemic that has left cherished freedoms in tatters.
How ironic it is that Johnson swaggers through the ruins of Kiev as a hero of Ukraine’s “war for freedom” in a bid to engineer his comeback, when he is responsible for visiting more damage upon our body politic than Vladimir Putin ever could.
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