Another England is a refreshing, uplifting and important book by England’s only (outgoing) Green MP Caroline Lucas, who has written these words, as a compassionate and alternative response to the hard-right taking over our country.
When politics becomes too soft on certain issues (like crime and of course recent issues with immigration), unfortunately it usually then rears the ugly head of bigoted politics, who seek to lazily blame all society’s problems on others, rather than their own lack of vision.
This book aims to heal a divided nation when often innocent people are being blamed for problems like overcrowding, lack of housing and crime. Caroline writes that ‘the right have hijacked Englishness. Can it be reclaimed?’
There is one thing being patriotic, but today it has almost become imperial nostalgia. In a tolerant country, we are usually fine with disagreeing over politics or religion or monarchy, but today it is making people scared.
If you proclaim ‘proud to be English’, sometimes people may think you support a far-right political party or are intolerant of others, which often is not the case.
Drawing on medieval writers and Romantic poets who reflected a more sustainable relationship with the natural world, Caroline delves into our literacy heritage to address pressing issues of our time like the legacy of the ‘Empire’, the struggle for constitutional reform or the climate emergency.
She sketches out an ‘alternative Englishness’, one that we can all embrace for a greener, fairer future.
Progressives have for too long treated the idea of an English national identity as an embarrassment, allowing the Right to create and exploit a narrow and chauvinistic version of collective belonging.
In this vivid and invigorating book, Caroline shatters these distorting mirrors and reveals a more interesting and complex picture of Englishness.. engaging, illuminating and ultimately uplifting. Fintan O’Toole
We can make England brutal or beautiful. To understand the choice and how we make the right one together, read this book, a wonderful and timely book on the country we can still be. Neal Lawson
Author Caroline Lucas is MP for Brighton Pavilion, and still the UK’s only Green Party MP. First elected in 2010, she also served as leader from 2008 to 2012 and co-leader from 2016 to 2018.
She holds a PHD in English from University of Exeter, where her dissertation was on the role of women leaders in Elizabethan literature. She is stepping down at the next election to focus on other projects to help the planet.
How ‘Unloved Creatures’ Welcomed an Immigrant
Late Light is a Wainwright-nominated book by an Indonesian-Australian, who looks at the West Country and its nature and wildlife, through the eyes of an immigrant. A book about falling in love with vanishing things, Michael makes a home for himself in England, then finds strange parallels between his life and the lives of local creatures.
Mixing natural history with memoir, the book explores the mystery of our animal neighbours and the hope they can inspire in us.
A book on migration, belonging and extinction, the book closely examines four ‘unloved’ animals – eels, moths, crickets & mussels, alongside telling the story of how economic, political and cultural events have shaped our modern landscape.
This is a rich blend of nature writing and meditation, plus the notion of belonging, from a vibrant new voice. Abi Andrews says this book will leave you aching with ‘world-love’.
Michael Malay is a writer and teacher based in Bristol. He spent his early years in Jakarta, before moving to Australia with his family at the age of 10. This is his first book.
Major Issues with Environmental Racism
It would be nice to think that racism no longer exists in England as we are a welcoming nation, but the truth is not so pretty. And remember racism is not experienced by black and Asian people, but also by Polish and even Irish people still in today’s society.
But there are better ways to addressing issues than covering statues in toxic paint and throwing them into rivers (Bristol Harbour is home to 70 species of birds, 18 butterflies, endangered peregrine falcons, cormorants, rare mining bees and acid heathland plants like gorse and heather).
What did they do to deserve a mighty statue covered in toxic paint being hurtled into their watery home?
Racism is almost always due to fear and lack of education. Years ago there was a good BBC 2 series, where polar opposite people would spend a week together. One success story involved a Neo-Nazi skinhead who spent a week living with the family of a young black man. They got on so well, he ended up going round to the house on a regular basis, to enjoy his mum’s home-cooked meals.
Environmental racism is common worldwide, where government policies tend to not consider the issues faced by ethnic minorities. Here are a few good examples:
- Baby food companies marketing ‘free formula’ to poor mothers in developing countries (who on leaving hospital can’t afford it so water it down or mix with dirty water – World Health Organisation say around 800,000 babies die this way each year, who could be breastfed).
- Many western companies encourage us to ‘donate’ plastic-wrapped sanitary pads to countries ravaged by AIDS (due to poverty, some end up sharing the pads). Yet companies already exist that make their own biodegradable pads from recycled paper and papyrus grass, which are healthier and don’t pollute local areas.
- In Gambia, Bakoteh rubbish dump is the most toxic in the world, housed with all the electronic trash we are encouraged to send over there, when we’ve finished with it here.
- In India, one river is so polluted with dye from blue jeans made for western markets, that the local street dogs have literally turned blue, from drinking the water.
- Most black and Asian people are lactose-intolerant. Yet MPs are lobbied to offer free milk (with few alternatives) so some children could get ill (a good example is NHS Healthy Start Vouchers, which refuse to let them be used for anything other than dairy milk, along with fresh produce).
African-Americans have higher levels of type-2 diabetes, often caused by having lower incomes and biased marketing to eat foods that are no good for them.
In restaurants we see Latino workers in the kitchen who are being paid substandard wages. The saddest thing to me is that these are the people with least access to good food. Yet they’re often suffering the highest rates of obesity and diet-related illnesses. Bryant Terry
Telling the Stories of Black Environmentalists
People the Planet Needs Now is a hopeful book that profiles 25 black and brown scientists and activists, who are helping to prevent climate change and industrial waste, social injustice and poverty worldwide.
Meet these heroes to help inspire change on a global scale. Learn about their childhoods and struggles (and sometimes racist encounters) that they overcame to help save the world.
Over 32 years, photographer Dudley Edmondson has had his work featured around the world, and his work has taken him from the Arctic Circle to the Bahamas.
In 2021, he was appointed to a Heritage Council in the US, which makes funding recommendations to protect Minnesota’s prairies, wetlands and forests.
Alex Troutman is a wildlife biologist who helps to restore lands through surveys to help impacted wildlife from large-scale land management.
Growing up in Georgia, he had no black role models who were wildlife biologists, and now after taking two degrees (despite having dyslexia and ADHD) he says it inspires him that he can inspire other black wildlife enthusiasts. He writes ‘ If you’re passionate, don’t listen to the naysayers’.
The Scary Rise of ‘Christian’ Nationalism
The Trumpian ‘white Christian nationalism’ is actually quite terrifying. Jesus was a peaceful man from the Middle East, yet now we have ‘white Christians’ who bomb countries, go trophy hunting, tell lies, abuse women, and storm parliament buildings, if elections don’t go their way.
The Republican Party in the USA (a bit like our Conservatives) has now been taken over by a leader whose entire vocabulary seems to amount to ‘he’s doing a great job’ or ‘she’s doing a terrible job’.
Bring Back Your People is an extremely important book, to stop the public being scared into voting for far-right politicians that whip up nasty politics that scare not just immigrants, but also people who have grown up here. With no mention of the really serious issues like climate change and pollution.
This book is by an American author, who likely is seeing this issue even more than us, with the present nasty politics and gaslighting over the pond.
Many white people are alarmed by the modern politics of hate, and this ‘mouthy’ practical guide looks at not just how to deal with likely nice people who are being drawn in to vote for not-very-nice MPs, but also how to create change at a national level.
This book by a second-generation preacher and leader of the Poor People’s Campaign in the US, has even watched some loved ones get sucked into the new kind of politics, and says the price of gas is not the reason to spew politics of hate.
In the US recently, one bereaved father called out Trump and Vance for mentioning (without his permission) the name of his son, who was accidentally killed by a Haiti immigrant. He asked them to stop using a genuine accident which involved the tragic death of his son, for political gain.
I wish that my son was killed by a 60-year old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would say anything so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone. Nathan Clark (father of Aiden Clark speaking alongside his wife Danielle, father to an 11-year old boy accidentally killed by a Haitian bus driver, due to a tragic accident in Ohio).
In this book, the author answers questions like:
- Who are White Christian Nationalists targeting? (most white folks and beyond)
- How do I talk to my hairdresser about it? (carefully)
- Why is it gaining steam so fast? (it’s not, you’re just catching up)
He also offers a counter-history of white people who organised for social justice. If you’re frightened by what’s happening, read this book, grab a lifeline and hang on tight.
If you know anyone who’s racist, have them watch the 1958 film The Defiant Ones. It portrays a white and black man on the run from chain gangs, and can’t separate due to metal holding them together.
Highly reviewed, Tony Curtis (who took the role after Marlon Brando had to pull out due to contractual obligations) was warned not to do the film in a racist USA at the time, but he did it all the same. And insisted Sidney Poitier’s name took top billing, unheard of at the time.
Jack would be seething at his death (and his life) being used to perpetuate an agenda of hate that he gave his everything fighting against. What Jack would want from this is for all of us to walk through the door he has booted down. Where we do not slash prison budgets and where we focus on rehabilitation not revenge.
Jack believed in the goodness of humanity. Borrow his intelligence, share his drive, feel his passion, burn with his anger and extinguish hatred with his kindness. Never give up his fight. David Merritt (father of Jack Merritt, who with Saskia Jones was killed in a London Bridge terrorist attack)
40 Devotions to Liberate Your Faith
God Didn’t Make Us to Hate Us is a lovely uplifting book of 40 devotions, to liberate you from your fear of God, if you have a faith. It features devotions to help you and your church heal and restore community, to embrace the heart-healing forgiveness of Jesus.
Move beyond ‘rigid religion’ with this devotional that includes everyone in its loving arms (whether you are a ‘sinner’, someone who is excluded from mainstream religion (say you’re gay) or simply someone who grew up fearing God, instead of loving Him.
Author ‘Father Lizzie!’ is the vicar of a church in Texas, which she planted in 2022 (yes, they ‘plant churches’ in the USA!) Known for her trademark phrase ‘beloved babes of God’, she uses her platform to unravel ‘toxic theology’ and reveal the abiding love of God. Her husband is also a preacher.
Why This Book is Timely (and needed)
Not so long ago, to believe in God was optional. And if you went to church, you mostly would find a kindly priest or vicar to offer advice, and offer prayers.
Today, we have experienced a recently-elected President (and ‘Catholic vice-president) who appear to dominate and bully, exclude the voices of anyone concerned with the environment or animal welfare, and now have regressed to insulting everyone from gay people to immigrants.
This is not what Jesus was about, yet we have TV and online preachers, full of hate. New ‘born-again’ Christians (who likely know little of the religion they preach, due to being new to it) now scare people witless if they are gay, transgender, immigrants or even do a bit of yoga to heal their achy joints.
Christianity has now become hate and fear and bullying. Rather than love and forgiveness. Such people would do well to remember that the whole ethos of Christianity was of a peaceful man (who lived very simply – not in The Vatican or flying around on private jets) who died on the cross, and still said ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do’.
Years ago, Gandhi was considering becoming a Christian. However he then met racists who were ‘Christians’, so decided not to join the religion, but keep ‘all the good bits’ about Jesus.
There is apparently a story of a Christian preacher in India, who was scaring local Hindus that if they did not follow the way of Christ, they would suffer in the next life.
With no takers, he asked Gandhi why this was happening, why they were not scared? The story is that Gandhi replied: ‘Once you start behaving like a real Christian, people may start listening to you!’
