Author: Steven

I like Owen Jones’ writing even if I usually don’t agree with him! I’m sure if he knew me he would feel equally strongly opposed to my views but then that is what happens in a “broad church”, he might think Labour would be better off if it was less broad and I would argue for more breadth (I’d call it electability). Enough about my politics.

This Land: The Story of a Movement is more than just the story of the Corbyn era, it sets Corbyn in the long struggle between the different poles of the Labour Party going back to the 60s. This Land is not a simple tale of how Corbyn was betrayed by the right wing of the party, although Jones does rely very heavily on the leaked report that was prepared by some of the leadership for the EHRC investigation but never submitted. Despite my expectation This Land is quite balanced and ends up being highly critical of the inner circle who “managed” Jeremy Corbyn and of the appalling incompetence and lack of strategic planning that lead to the disastrous 2019 election.

The part on Brexit was revealing and well argued, as a determined remainer I was struck by the tactical errors that the remain campaign made both before and after the referendum. Corbyn could have done more but the rift between the party’s leavers and retainers was there before the referendum and remained irreconcilable.

The section on the antisemitism scandal was perhaps the bit I was most eager to read (I had been in the audience for the launch of the Chakrabarti Report and wrote about my experience of that day). Jones is uncompromising in his acknowledgement of the problem of antisemitism within a small part of the party membership (and fellow travellers) although he does accept some of the explanations or blame shifting of the internal leaked report (time will tell). Overall I was relieved that I did not find myself screaming “No, no, no, it wasn’t like that”

Jones shines a light on Corbyn’s indecisiveness, avoidance of conflict and lack of organisation. He is surprisingly critical of someone that he clearly admires and you sense how difficult it is for him to acknowledge Corbyn’s responsibility for the failure of “the project”.

This Land is a fascinating and unflinching read about the history of the Labour Party over the last 5 years, the mistakes, the villains and the heroes. Despite everything that went wrong in the Corbyn period, Jones remained committed to the “project”, I am not so sure.

If you think of yourself as of the left, regardless of which wing, you should read This Land

4.5/5

The SS Officer’s Armchair by Daniel Lee is a historical investigation uncovering the life of a mid level Nazi administrator.

Lee is set on the trail of Robert Greisinger by a bundle of documents that had been concealed in the seat of an armchair for 70 years. His searches trace Greisinger’s ancestry, his family, his career as a lawyer and his progression as an SS officer from Stuttgart to the Ukraine to Prague. Lee’s conversations with Greisinger’s daughters shed some light on the way the post war generations adopted collective amnesia in coming to terms with their parents’ actions during the Nazi era.

Despite his own personal connection to the history he is investigating, Lee manages to remain an objective chronicler of his subject and is surprisingly sympathetic to the two daughters. However he convincingly disproves the idea that Greisinger (or indeed any of the mid level officials) were not active and enthusiastic participants in the crimes of the Nazis. I was left shuddering at Greisinger’s pursuit of advancement and a comfortable life for his family at the expense of the thousands that he condemned to misery and death at the stroke of a pen. Throughout I had Hannah Arendt’s description of Eichmann’s trial “The Banality of Evil” in mind.

This is not pleasant reading but it is compelling.

5/5

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is a slow burner, I nearly put it down after the first few chapters but I soldiered on and it improved a bit.

Four friends living in a retirement community meet once a week to discuss unsolved murder cases (one never quite finds out why or how). Then a brutal murder takes place on their doorsteps and they manage to insert themselves into the case gradually unpicking the threads which go back almost 50 years.

The narrator is one of the 4 pensioner detectives and her voice is droll rather than funny. There are a couple of twists as the plot draws to a close but you are left with the feeling of clumsily strewn red herrings rather than gasping in surprise.

Maybe if I you like the Miss Marple series or watch Midsomer Murders you will enjoy this, but I thought it was a bit meh!

3/5