DAVID YEARSLEY is fascinated by the account of four composers who transformed their experiences of the second world war and the Holocaust into deeply moving works of art
Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London
by Owen Hatherley
(Repeater Books, £10.99)
FOR anyone who’s lived in London during the last 50 years — and especially if you’ve taken an interest in its politics — Owen Hatherley’s book is unputdownable. He knows his stuff and writes so fluently that he’s made what could be a very dry subject into a page-turner.
A book about much more than the title suggests, it’s also an attempt to understand the Labour Party’s crushing December 2019 defeat and suggest some ways for the left to reform, in part inspired by London’s radical tradition.
MARJ MAYO recommends a well illustrated and very positive account of an extraordinary period in local government history
Now at 115,000 members and in some polls level with Labour in terms of public support, CHRIS JARVIS looks at the factors behind the rapid rise of the Greens, internal and external
In the run-up to the Communist Party congress in November ROB GRIFFITHS outlines a few ideas regarding its participation in the elections of May 2026
MARTIN HALL passes time in the sanguine company of a traditional conservative, recalling their disastrous governments


