The Battle for Politics

Election fever is upon us, lacking only a date for the big day. But who or what is there to vote for, and is anything really at stake? The Institute of Ideas is holding a pre-election public summit, The Battle for Politics, in London on Saturday 20 March, to assess the significance of what looks set to be an uninspiring election campaign, and consider the possibility of an alternative agenda. Reviews and essays relating to the election will appear on CW between now and then. This week, Guy Aitchison of POWER2010 invites you to vote for ideas to reform our democratic institutions.

Also this week, Javed Mohammed of MyFavouriteReview.com considers what makes a socially conscious film, and offers a personal list of 101 such films not to be missed. A 102nd suggestion comes from Dan Schneider, who reviews The Burmese Harp, an eliptically political film from 1956 now available on DVD. Meanwhile, Alicia Rudd reviews Jayne Anne Phillips’s Lark and Termite, and Mark Carrigan is unimpressed by postmodern posturing at the ICA.

11 February 2010