London Review of Books
@lrb.co.uk
Critical thinking, published every fortnight.
Read the LRB: https://lrb.co.uk
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Subscribe: https://mylrb.co.uk/TWQU0725
Read the LRB: https://lrb.co.uk
Listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-lrb-podcast/id510327102
Subscribe: https://mylrb.co.uk/TWQU0725
Pinned
Issue 47.22 is now online, featuring:
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the green energy transition and North-East England
Clare Bucknell on Robert Frost
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on American post-liberalism
and Maureen N. McLane on Claire-Louise Bennett’s new novel.
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the green energy transition and North-East England
Clare Bucknell on Robert Frost
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on American post-liberalism
and Maureen N. McLane on Claire-Louise Bennett’s new novel.
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
‘Marie-Antoinette’s expenditures were not made in a vacuum. The money she spent on what were, after all, appearances, was drawn from a country in financial crisis. Ninety-eight per cent of her subjects lived in or near poverty.’
Anne Higonnet at the V&A.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anne Higonnet at the V&A.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anne Higonnet · At the V&A: ‘Marie-Antoinette Style’
She is the queen of excess, who teaches us the lessons of history with shepherdess costumes and lace ruffles. Marie-...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 6, 2025 at 10:50 AM
‘Marie-Antoinette’s expenditures were not made in a vacuum. The money she spent on what were, after all, appearances, was drawn from a country in financial crisis. Ninety-eight per cent of her subjects lived in or near poverty.’
Anne Higonnet at the V&A.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Anne Higonnet at the V&A.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘For a long time there was an assumption that most readers would be blank about the Caribbean: my Penguin Classics edition of Wide Sargasso Sea from 2000 has a footnote explaining what a mango is.’
Susannah Clapp on what a show about Jean Rhys leaves out.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Susannah Clapp on what a show about Jean Rhys leaves out.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Susannah Clapp · On Jean Rhys
Paintings, sculptures, photographs – and one dress – from the 18th to the 21st century are shown alongside extracts...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 6, 2025 at 9:30 AM
‘For a long time there was an assumption that most readers would be blank about the Caribbean: my Penguin Classics edition of Wide Sargasso Sea from 2000 has a footnote explaining what a mango is.’
Susannah Clapp on what a show about Jean Rhys leaves out.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Susannah Clapp on what a show about Jean Rhys leaves out.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the latest episode of 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, Daniel Soar and Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, examine the ways in which the current methods of detention in the United States are a legacy of 9/11.
Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Episode 3: Dr Yes
Podcast Episode · Aftershock: The War on Terror · EP3 · 57m
podcasts.apple.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:22 PM
In the latest episode of 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘤𝘬: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, Daniel Soar and Laleh Khalili, a professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter, examine the ways in which the current methods of detention in the United States are a legacy of 9/11.
Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
‘The creature is not scary but boring, a model of the inferiority of every sort of being that is not human.’
Michael Wood watches Guillermo del Toro's 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Michael Wood watches Guillermo del Toro's 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Michael Wood · At the Movies: ‘Frankenstein’
In all versions of the story a human competes with God by creating a living being. The difference in Guillermo del Toro...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 8:30 PM
‘The creature is not scary but boring, a model of the inferiority of every sort of being that is not human.’
Michael Wood watches Guillermo del Toro's 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Michael Wood watches Guillermo del Toro's 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘The world that fascinated him in its every aspect was a world in which God played no part. His missteps were errata, not sins.’
Ferdinand Mount on Benjamin Franklin and his scientific endeavours.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ferdinand Mount on Benjamin Franklin and his scientific endeavours.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ferdinand Mount · His Very Variousness: Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments
Benjamin Franklin was a total immerser; he bathed in the cold morning breeze, just as he plunged into the freezing...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 7:49 PM
‘The world that fascinated him in its every aspect was a world in which God played no part. His missteps were errata, not sins.’
Ferdinand Mount on Benjamin Franklin and his scientific endeavours.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ferdinand Mount on Benjamin Franklin and his scientific endeavours.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘The decay of Gaullism wouldn’t have surprised de Gaulle, who often complained about his countrymen’s lack of commitment to national greatness.’
David Todd reads de Gaulle‘s wartime memoirs: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Todd reads de Gaulle‘s wartime memoirs: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Todd · Codename Resurrection: De Gaulle makes a comeback
‘He had one illusion – France; and one disillusion – mankind, including Frenchmen.’ John Maynard Keynes’s...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
‘The decay of Gaullism wouldn’t have surprised de Gaulle, who often complained about his countrymen’s lack of commitment to national greatness.’
David Todd reads de Gaulle‘s wartime memoirs: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
David Todd reads de Gaulle‘s wartime memoirs: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘Is the US preparing for war on Venezuela? It will be more difficult without Colombia on the side of intervention, or covert operations organised and launched from the Colombian side of the border.’
Forrest Hylton on the US, Colombia and Venezuela, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Forrest Hylton on the US, Colombia and Venezuela, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Forrest Hylton | Gran Colombia Redux
The US can bomb Venezuelan military and civilian targets from the USS Gerald R. Ford but it’s difficult to imagine...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 7:06 PM
‘Is the US preparing for war on Venezuela? It will be more difficult without Colombia on the side of intervention, or covert operations organised and launched from the Colombian side of the border.’
Forrest Hylton on the US, Colombia and Venezuela, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Forrest Hylton on the US, Colombia and Venezuela, from the blog.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Reposted by London Review of Books
Brilliant @jamesmeek.bsky.social piece in @lrb.co.uk on the failure of British industrial strategy - indeed of British industrial capitalism - and how that collides with the rise of reform in North East rustbelt town Blyth www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Ten-Foot Chopsticks: The North-East Transition
The ghost of the industrial revolution haunts Britain. The language of today’s politicians, of unlocking and...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Brilliant @jamesmeek.bsky.social piece in @lrb.co.uk on the failure of British industrial strategy - indeed of British industrial capitalism - and how that collides with the rise of reform in North East rustbelt town Blyth www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
In the latest episode of the podcast, Sepideh Farsia talks to @adamshatz.bsky.social about her film, ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk’, about the life of Fatma Hassona, a Palestinian photographer who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in April 2025.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
December 5, 2025 at 6:20 PM
In the latest episode of the podcast, Sepideh Farsia talks to @adamshatz.bsky.social about her film, ‘Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk’, about the life of Fatma Hassona, a Palestinian photographer who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in April 2025.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...
‘Despite his earlier work on designing legal institutions, Vermeule’s defence of common good constitutionalism lacked what most scholars would associate with the term “constitutionalism”: constraints on the powerful.’
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on post-liberalism.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on post-liberalism.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Jan-Werner Müller · Caesar wept: Trolling the Libs
All post-liberals have at one point or another declared themselves anti-libertarian. Why is it, then, that once in power...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 5:55 PM
‘Despite his earlier work on designing legal institutions, Vermeule’s defence of common good constitutionalism lacked what most scholars would associate with the term “constitutionalism”: constraints on the powerful.’
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on post-liberalism.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jwmueller-pu.bsky.social on post-liberalism.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘The strike is another means of applying urgent pressure on the government, using the only tools available to the prisoners: their rapidly deteriorating bodies.’
E.S. Wight on an ongoing hunger strike in British prisons.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
E.S. Wight on an ongoing hunger strike in British prisons.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
E.S. Wight | On Hunger Strike
Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Jon Cink, T Hoxha and Kamran Ahmed are on hunger strike. All are on remand in...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 5:10 PM
‘The strike is another means of applying urgent pressure on the government, using the only tools available to the prisoners: their rapidly deteriorating bodies.’
E.S. Wight on an ongoing hunger strike in British prisons.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
E.S. Wight on an ongoing hunger strike in British prisons.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
‘Was the mural in Kingston ever meant to be looked at carefully, even? Or was it a bogus inkblot test intended to be misread in multiple ways?’
Mark Sinker on a disturbing festive mural:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Mark Sinker on a disturbing festive mural:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Mark Sinker | Glitchcore Bosch
Above Côte Brasserie in Kingston upon Thames, overlooking its Riverside Walk, there was for a week in mid-November a...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 4:31 PM
‘Was the mural in Kingston ever meant to be looked at carefully, even? Or was it a bogus inkblot test intended to be misread in multiple ways?’
Mark Sinker on a disturbing festive mural:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Mark Sinker on a disturbing festive mural:
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
‘Many things about the society of the spectacle are now so familiar that hashing them over gets tedious. We’re all tired of apocalypse-speak. Nonetheless, the spectacle still has a few surprises up its sleeve.’
T.J. Clark continues his reflections on Trump’s brazenness
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
T.J. Clark continues his reflections on Trump’s brazenness
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
T.J. Clark · The Job
What would politics be like in an age where one empire continued to hold sway over the ‘international community’, as...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 3:40 PM
‘Many things about the society of the spectacle are now so familiar that hashing them over gets tedious. We’re all tired of apocalypse-speak. Nonetheless, the spectacle still has a few surprises up its sleeve.’
T.J. Clark continues his reflections on Trump’s brazenness
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
T.J. Clark continues his reflections on Trump’s brazenness
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘The clandestine nature of Catholic devotion explains why evidence of its material culture is so valuable.’
@malcolmgaskill.bsky.social on America’s first Catholics.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@malcolmgaskill.bsky.social on America’s first Catholics.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Malcolm Gaskill · Bejesuited: America’s First Catholics
Readers familiar with the legend of Pocahontas – baptised an Anglican in the church at Jamestown – and the puritan...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 2:11 PM
‘The clandestine nature of Catholic devotion explains why evidence of its material culture is so valuable.’
@malcolmgaskill.bsky.social on America’s first Catholics.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@malcolmgaskill.bsky.social on America’s first Catholics.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘Schopenhauer has long held the title of gloomiest philosopher in history. He sees human existence not as grand tragedy but squalid farce, with men and women writhing in the grip of appetites that are both pointless and insatiable.’
Terry Eagleton:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Terry Eagleton:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Terry Eagleton · Pregnant with Monsters: Schopenhauer makes a stir
Schopenhauer has long held the title of gloomiest philosopher in history. He sees human existence not as grand tragedy...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
‘Schopenhauer has long held the title of gloomiest philosopher in history. He sees human existence not as grand tragedy but squalid farce, with men and women writhing in the grip of appetites that are both pointless and insatiable.’
Terry Eagleton:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Terry Eagleton:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘“Mowing” marked a shift in Frost’s early writing. It stands out not only as a poem about work (the labour of scything and seeding and building that would become his subject), but as a poem about poetry.’
Clare Bucknell on a new critical biography of Robert Frost.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Clare Bucknell on a new critical biography of Robert Frost.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Clare Bucknell · Discord and Fuss: Robert Frost’s Ugly Feelings
Robert Frost’s poetry has a way of lifting its gaze – with a heightening of register, a grand image, a weighty...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 12:50 PM
‘“Mowing” marked a shift in Frost’s early writing. It stands out not only as a poem about work (the labour of scything and seeding and building that would become his subject), but as a poem about poetry.’
Clare Bucknell on a new critical biography of Robert Frost.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Clare Bucknell on a new critical biography of Robert Frost.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘There are people in certain parts of liberal and left politics who are so obsessed with process (citizens’ assemblies, voting systems, devolution projects) that you begin to wonder whether they care about outcomes.’
@morganj0nes.bsky.social at the Battle of Ideas.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
@morganj0nes.bsky.social at the Battle of Ideas.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Morgan Jones | At the Battle of Ideas
In The Impact of Labour, Maurice Cowling wrote that politics in the 1920s was ‘fifty or sixty people’ in tension...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 12:10 PM
‘There are people in certain parts of liberal and left politics who are so obsessed with process (citizens’ assemblies, voting systems, devolution projects) that you begin to wonder whether they care about outcomes.’
@morganj0nes.bsky.social at the Battle of Ideas.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
@morganj0nes.bsky.social at the Battle of Ideas.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
‘This is what a real newspaper looks like. No clickbait here.’
Train your attention: subscribe! Get your first 12 issues for just £12. mylrb.co.uk/TWQU0725
Train your attention: subscribe! Get your first 12 issues for just £12. mylrb.co.uk/TWQU0725
December 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
‘This is what a real newspaper looks like. No clickbait here.’
Train your attention: subscribe! Get your first 12 issues for just £12. mylrb.co.uk/TWQU0725
Train your attention: subscribe! Get your first 12 issues for just £12. mylrb.co.uk/TWQU0725
Reposted by London Review of Books
my LRB blog-post on the weird kingston mural: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Mark Sinker | Glitchcore Bosch
Above Côte Brasserie in Kingston upon Thames, overlooking its Riverside Walk, there was for a week in mid-November a...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
my LRB blog-post on the weird kingston mural: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/de...
Reposted by London Review of Books
1/ James Meek has a brilliant long piece in the LRB about Blyth – ex-mining town in Northumberland, turned Reform stronghold. The puzzle? Blyth’s economy increasingly depends on green energy investment (offshore wind, cable factories, renewables R&D), yet it’s voting for an anti-net-zero party.
‘Reform isn’t just the anti-immigration party. It’s also the anti-net-zero party. Rather than a green industrial revolution mellowing the small boats paranoia in Blyth, the outcome now forecast by the polls is the opposite.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Ten-Foot Chopsticks: The North-East Transition
The ghost of the industrial revolution haunts Britain. The language of today’s politicians, of unlocking and...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 9:22 AM
1/ James Meek has a brilliant long piece in the LRB about Blyth – ex-mining town in Northumberland, turned Reform stronghold. The puzzle? Blyth’s economy increasingly depends on green energy investment (offshore wind, cable factories, renewables R&D), yet it’s voting for an anti-net-zero party.
‘Relying on foreign investment, free trade and globalisation-based jobmaking, wrapped in a British flag, to grow the economy and soothe immigration resentment isn’t enough for growth or votes.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East, energy transition and Reform.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East, energy transition and Reform.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
James Meek · Ten-Foot Chopsticks: The North-East Transition
The ghost of the industrial revolution haunts Britain. The language of today’s politicians, of unlocking and...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 10:51 AM
‘Relying on foreign investment, free trade and globalisation-based jobmaking, wrapped in a British flag, to grow the economy and soothe immigration resentment isn’t enough for growth or votes.’
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East, energy transition and Reform.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@jamesmeek.bsky.social on the North-East, energy transition and Reform.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘If the bridge was an electoral bribe, it was one that the people of Humberside would end up paying themselves, in the form of toll charges that increased every year for decades.’
@tom--white.bsky.social on how the Humber Bridge was built.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@tom--white.bsky.social on how the Humber Bridge was built.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Tom White · Short Cuts: A Bridge across the Humber
In 1966, as election day approached, Labour dispatched MPs and ministers to Hull, including Tony Benn, Tony Crosland,...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 5, 2025 at 9:30 AM
‘If the bridge was an electoral bribe, it was one that the people of Humberside would end up paying themselves, in the form of toll charges that increased every year for decades.’
@tom--white.bsky.social on how the Humber Bridge was built.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@tom--white.bsky.social on how the Humber Bridge was built.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Our next LRB Screen film is the Artangel film 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 with director Andrea Luka Zimmerman, set in east and south London, including Brixton market and Billingsgate fish market.
Mon 8 December, 8 p.m. at the Garden Cinema, Covent Garden
Find out more: www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/lrb-lon...
Mon 8 December, 8 p.m. at the Garden Cinema, Covent Garden
Find out more: www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/lrb-lon...
December 4, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Our next LRB Screen film is the Artangel film 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 with director Andrea Luka Zimmerman, set in east and south London, including Brixton market and Billingsgate fish market.
Mon 8 December, 8 p.m. at the Garden Cinema, Covent Garden
Find out more: www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/lrb-lon...
Mon 8 December, 8 p.m. at the Garden Cinema, Covent Garden
Find out more: www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/lrb-lon...
‘From boyhood, Benjamin Franklin had been bored rigid by sermons and skipped churchgoing as often as he could. The freedom of religion which Josiah had crossed the Atlantic to enjoy was transmuted by his son into a freedom from religion.’
Ferdinand Mount:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ferdinand Mount:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ferdinand Mount · His Very Variousness: Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments
Benjamin Franklin was a total immerser; he bathed in the cold morning breeze, just as he plunged into the freezing...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 8:48 PM
‘From boyhood, Benjamin Franklin had been bored rigid by sermons and skipped churchgoing as often as he could. The freedom of religion which Josiah had crossed the Atlantic to enjoy was transmuted by his son into a freedom from religion.’
Ferdinand Mount:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Ferdinand Mount:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
‘While Stalin and Hitler wanted to remake artists into “domestic servants of the regime”, Breton and Trotsky held that “true art is unable not to be revolutionary, not to aspire to a complete and radical reconstruction of society.”’
Hal Foster on the Surrealists.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Hal Foster on the Surrealists.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Hal Foster · Tightrope of Hope: Surrealism v. Fascism
The Surrealists saw colonialism and imperialism as intrinsic to fascism, and from start to finish they campaigned...
www.lrb.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 7:45 PM
‘While Stalin and Hitler wanted to remake artists into “domestic servants of the regime”, Breton and Trotsky held that “true art is unable not to be revolutionary, not to aspire to a complete and radical reconstruction of society.”’
Hal Foster on the Surrealists.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Hal Foster on the Surrealists.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...