JAMIE BRITTON recommends that we all buy at least two copies of a remarkable book of poems
This Separated Isle
Edited by Paul Sng
Policy Press, £16
THIRTY-THREE beautifully photographed portraits accompany insightful interviews in this well-designed book, which brings together an eclectic range of individuals living in Britain today.
They come from the most diverse backgrounds, children of mixed marriages, first and second generation immigrants, white indigenous, Scottish, Welsh and English.
In her introduction Kit de Waal writes critically: “So many people in this book are unseen by a society that has become increasingly fixated on notions of its own history and identity, a society that wants to bask in the white light of its former glory while smothering any attempt to examine it too closely or at all.”
MARJORIE MAYO welcomes an account of family life after Oscar Wilde, a cathartic exercise, written by his grandson
MARTIN HALL welcomes a study of Britain’s relationship with the EU that sheds light on the way euroscepticism moved from the margins to the centre
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by a deep dive into contemporary social crises, that examines how they are manipulated by elites
MARTIN HALL passes time in the sanguine company of a traditional conservative, recalling their disastrous governments


