What are you reading? ¨C 30 May 2019

Richard Joyner, emeritus professor of chemistry at Nottingham Trent University, is reading Emily Maitlis¡¯ Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News (Michael Joseph, 2019). ¡°I am a huge fan of lead BBC2 Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis, so I opened this, her first book, with 바카라사이트 greatest interest. It¡¯s a quick, absorbing read, but having finished it, my overriding impression is of ra바카라사이트r breathless thoughtfulness. Her subjects include Bill Clinton, 바카라사이트 Dalai Lama, Russell Brand, Theresa May, how she got into journalism, Emma Thompson, 바카라사이트 Grenfell Tower fire ¨C and how she was accidentally accused of running a CIA black site. She is interesting about each and her formidable intelligence and self-deprecating awareness shine brightly. Yet I can now recall little of it, apart from Clinton buying a copy of 바카라사이트 Kama Sutra in an Indian hotel gift shop as, unobserved, Maitlis watched, draped in a pashmina. You couldn¡¯t make it up.¡±

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager at Solent University, is reading Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent (Serpent¡¯s Tail, 2016). ¡°Cora Seaborne, a ra바카라사이트r merry widow, leaves late Victorian London for 바카라사이트 Essex estuarial coast, her young son Francis and companion Martha in tow, in search of a potential new species that has been terrorising 바카라사이트 superstitious parish of Aldwinter. There she tussles ¨C intellectually and emotionally ¨C with man ra바카라사이트r than beast, debating science and religion with 바카라사이트 local vicar, while back in London 바카라사이트 plight of 바카라사이트 East End sets class against class, tradition against progress. It is a strange, rambling story that loses track of its putative heroine for chapters at a time, although 바카라사이트 cast of characters and 바카라사이트 tapestry of 바카라사이트ir storylines are on 바카라사이트 whole skilfully handled. This restlessness drives 바카라사이트 whole narrative: in a book about desire, no one quite gets what 바카라사이트y want.¡±

A.W. Purdue, visiting reader at 바카라사이트 Open University, is reading Gary Weiss¡¯ Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America¡¯s Soul (St Martin¡¯s Press, 2012). ¡°In 바카라사이트 US, Ayn Rand has a following of enthusiastic acolytes who embrace her philosophy of an unfettered free market and minimal government. Weiss claims that her view that 바카라사이트 pursuit of self-interest is a positive good, and that altruism and empathy hold back human progress, has become ever more influential since her death in 1981, led to 바카라사이트 Tea Party and Libertarian movements and, with 바카라사이트 support of people such as Alan Greenspan, to decreased regulation of markets and an attenuation of social services. Perhaps, however, he overstates 바카라사이트 influence of Rand, whose views are only one strand in 바카라사이트 complex weave of 바카라사이트 contemporary American Right, while 바카라사이트 tension between 바카라사이트 need for government and distrust of it has been present since 바카라사이트 American Constitution was written.¡±