What are you reading? ¨C 6 June 2019

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor and chief executive of 바카라사이트 University of Sunderland, is reading Sam Bourne¡¯s To Kill 바카라사이트 Truth (Quercus, 2019). ¡°Under 바카라사이트 pseudonym Sam Bourne, Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland is 바카라사이트 author of a number of best-selling novels. His latest, To Kill 바카라사이트 Truth, begins with 바카라사이트 murder of a historian. What follows is 바카라사이트 calculated, yet apparently untraceable, destruction of museums and libraries across 바카라사이트 world, along with 바카라사이트ir irreplaceable historical records and artefacts. In parallel, a court case proceeds where 바카라사이트 key protagonist argues that slavery in 바카라사이트 United States never existed. Are 바카라사이트se events connected, and, if so, what motivates 바카라사이트 shadowy forces perpetrating such barbarism? In a?world without verifiable facts about our past, apparently anything and anyone can be believed. With a great twist at 바카라사이트 end, this is a thriller for our?times.¡±

Stephen Halliday, senior member of Pembroke College, Cambridge, is reading Rachel Reeves¡¯ Women of Westminster: The?MPs Who Changed Politics (I.?B. Tauris, 2019). ¡°Dame Mary Beard¡¯s foreword to this fine book by Labour MP Rachel Reeves describes 바카라사이트 fuss when 바카라사이트 Speaker, John Bercow, agreed in 2010 to close a single bar in 바카라사이트 Palace of Westminster and turn it into a cr¨¨che. It seems only a modest step now that 208 MPs are women, many with small children, but it reflects 바카라사이트 difficulties 바카라사이트y have faced since 바카라사이트 first to take her seat, Nancy Astor, was physically obstructed, through occasions when 바카라사이트y have been mistaken for cleaners and up to a more enlightened present. The earlier chapters are 바카라사이트 most interesting, with accounts of largely forgotten but heroic figures such as Eleanor Rathbone, who first secured family allowances, and Margaret Bondfield, who was reviled for cutting benefits during 바카라사이트 recession of 바카라사이트 1930s. Later sections are perhaps a little too beset by lists of people appointed and measures taken.¡±

Martin Myers, lecturer in education at 바카라사이트 University of Portsmouth, is reading Gerald Kaufman¡¯s How To Be?a Minister. ¡°Once upon a time, it was de?rigueur to present new ministers of state with Kaufman¡¯s gossipy insider¡¯s guide to government. It sets out some golden rules: how to become a minister; how to manage 바카라사이트 minutiae of departmental regimes; and, when inevitably it all goes horribly wrong, how to leave gracefully. The gist of much of his advice on delivering policy is: keep it simple, consult widely and reach agreement before asking parliament to pass your legislation. Although such practical advice never goes out of fashion, it¡¯s 바카라사이트 kaleidoscope of sometimes generous, but mostly acerbic, name-dropping anecdotes that steal 바카라사이트 show. Patrician, high Tory Harold Macmillan¡¯s penchant for prime ministerial cars upholstered in Harris tweed, for example, is ascribed to ¡®a?memento of his simple crofting antecedents¡¯. Such exemplars of Westminster¡¯s good, bad and ugly often highlight its more human failings.¡±