After the Russian takeover of the Crimea but before the invasion of Ukraine, the astute Perry Anderson described Zelensky’s state as “a client regime mentored by US proconsuls in Kiev”.   Sean Sheehan   Neoliberalism has certainly been the order of Kiev’s day: privatization, de-regulation, de-unionization. Zelensky, as evidenced by […]

It is a bit of a truism to say that good science fiction offers more insight into our present state than some future, imaginary one.   Sean Sheehan   The claim can be put to the test when reading “A desolation called peace”, a tale as intriguing as its author, […]

Veganism began officially in 1944 when some of the outliers of the Vegetarian Society asked for space in the British Vegetarian Society’s newsletter for those who don’t eat dairy products.   Sean Sheehan   They were turned down. It must have been a hard life in the fifties and sixties […]

Bloodaxe Books has done more for appreciating poetry than any other publisher and it all started, back in 2002, with “Staying human: new poems for staying alive”.   Sean Sheehan   This anthology was hugely and deservedly popular and two years later “Being alive“ came out, followed in 2011 by […]