The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists

SPECIAL ELECTION BROADCAST! This ragged monsterpiece, also titled The Labour 2019 Election Manifesto, is Jeremy Corbyn’s favourite novel, a 600-page sprawling rant against the ruling capitalist elite and their exploitation of the conditioned workers. Reading the novel over 100 years on, the parallels......more

If you've ever reflected on the woes of the world, this novel might offer some relief. Relief that is, from any illusion that things will probably be ok; that we have learnt from mistakes of the past, and that we are at the dawn of some enlightened benevolent age. Written and set in the Edwardian era......more

This book makes me feel like a bad leftie. I wanted to like it so much more than I did, and while parts of it are very powerful, the book is overlong, and treads the same ground so often that I had to force myself to finish it. Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in G......more

A really brilliant read – compelling, moving and thought-provoking, with wonderful characterisation. I loved it.......more

Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003. Just wonderful. At times sickening, but also heartening and exactly what one needs in this era, for good and bad. Moreso brilliant for what it stands for rather than how it is written or the plot, but ev......more