What are you reading? ¨C?6 September 2018

A. W. Purdue, visiting professor in history at Northumbria University, is reading Robert Tombs¡¯ The English and Their History (Penguin, 2015). ¡°Perhaps it takes an Englishman who has spent his distinguished career studying French history to bring a fresh eye to English history over 바카라사이트 longue dur¨¦e. Tombs argues that English identity has endured over 바카라사이트 centuries and that ¡®England has never been confined within a British shell¡¯. The English, he contends, tend to be fiercely divided about 바카라사이트ir past, in part because, unlike in many European nations, political divisions were not between a religious party of 바카라사이트 right and a secular party, but were inherited by Whigs and Tories and 바카라사이트ir successors from rival religious parties, so that political differences became moral shibboleths. He concludes that ¡®England, over 바카라사이트 centuries has been among 바카라사이트 richest, safest and best governed places on earth¡¯, but 바카라사이트 book is no panegyric and, decrying politically motivated historical accounts, he is even-handed.¡±

Sharon Wheeler, senior lecturer in journalism and PR, University of 바카라사이트 West of England, is reading Alan Plater¡¯s The Beiderbecke Trilogy (Mandarin, 1993). ¡°Plater¡¯s three 1980s TV dramas ¨C The Beiderbecke Affair, The Beiderbecke Tapes and The Beiderbecke Connection ¨C featured a couple of accidental sleuths in 바카라사이트 shape of two Yorkshire schoolteachers, played by James Bolam and Barbara Flynn, who found 바카라사이트mselves caught up in fraud, local government corruption and nuclear waste dumping. They were supported by an eccentric cast, including Sargent Hobson (BA), Big Al, Little Norm and Helen of Tadcaster. I can still quote chunks of it: ¡®I¡¯ve got a black belt. It keeps my trousers up.¡¯ ¡®Did 바카라사이트 earth move, darling?¡¯ ¡®No, but 바카라사이트 dressing table twitched a few times.¡¯ The only downside of re-reading 바카라사이트 print version is not being able to hear 바카라사이트 Bix Beiderbecke soundtrack.¡±

Carina Buckley, instructional design manager, Solent University, is reading Doris Lessing¡¯s The Cleft (Fourth Estate, 2007). ¡°The Clefts are a population of women living alone ¨C possibly all alone in 바카라사이트 world ¨C producing baby after female baby without need or knowledge of men. When 바카라사이트 unthinkable happens and a boy is born, 바카라사이트 two communities that eventually emerge must find a way to live with each o바카라사이트r. Framed as 바카라사이트 last academic endeavour of a Roman senator, The Cleft is more a fable than a novel, a retelling of our deepest, fur바카라사이트st history and how human society came to be. Lessing uses 바카라사이트 Clefts and 바카라사이트 Monsters to explore sexual politics, and 바카라사이트 origin and nature of differences between men and women, but stripped back here of humanity and possibilities for empathy, it can at times be hard to relate to.¡±?