Heart on My Sleeve: Collected Works 1980-2020
by Attila the Stockbroker
(Cherry Red Books, £14.99)

REGULAR Morning Star readers need no introduction to Attila the Stockbroker. Performance poet, musician and staunch socialist, his bimonthly diary — often bulletins from his shows in far-flung outposts and latterly, in the absence of gigs, his ruminations on music, poetry and  life in lockdown — has long been a favourite read of the people’s paper.

Already a bolshy young bolshie, in the late 1970s the advent of punk rock in general and the Clash in particular drew young John Baine to appreciate the DIY aspect of entertainment and its links with politics, first as organiser and master of ceremonies for Rock Against Racism gigs and, increasingly, as performer.

His new book Heart on My Sleeve was due to be launched last September with a celebratory tour here and abroad to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Baine’s first gig under his Attila nom de guerre — a reference to his barbarian tendencies during his thankfully short stint in a “proper” job as a clerk in the City — but the pandemic knocked that for six. However, he’s far from silenced, switching performances to Facebook Live.