Autobiography and memoirReviewThis unflinching memoir explores consent, coercion and the lasting impact of a teacher-pupil affair In this unflinching memoir, Joe Gibson recounts the affair he had as a schoolboy with his 35-year-old teacher, whom he calls Miss P. The year is 1991 and 17-year-old Gibson, who has chosen to protect his identity by using a pseudonym, has been awarded a bursary to an elite private school to study for his A-levels.
Book of the weekFictionReviewThis tangled epic about diverse lives is rooted in environmental principles In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell complains that “artists of any consequence can never be persuaded into the Socialist fold … Nearly everything describable as Socialist literature is dull, tasteless, and bad.” He calls this fact “disastrous”. He goes on to say that “the high-water mark, so to speak, of Socialist Literature, is WH Auden, a sort of gutless Kipling, and the even feebler poets who are associated with him” – trying to kill two perfectly good birds with one slightly childish stone.
Cif beliefChristianity This article is more than 11 years oldWas Jesus gay? ProbablyThis article is more than 11 years oldPaul OestreicherI preached on Good Friday that Jesus's intimacy with John suggested he was gay as I felt deeply it had to be addressed Theo Hobson: Can liberal Christians shut up about gayness? Preaching on Good Friday on the last words of Jesus as he was being executed makes great spiritual demands on the preacher.
The ObserverMoviesInterviewActor Noémie Merlant: ‘Women have been taught to see ourselves through other people’s desire’Jonathan RomneyThe Portrait of a Lady on Fire star talks about her role in Jacques Audiard’s new dating drama, making a documentary about her own family, and the Hollywood actor who inspires her The French actor Noémie Merlant is in demand these days – especially since 2019, when Céline Sciamma’s acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire massively boosted her international profile.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez This article is more than 3 months oldAOC decries ‘bigotry and callousness’ of pro-Palestinian rally in New YorkThis article is more than 3 months oldUS congresswoman says ‘it should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it’ and calls for urgent ceasefire Criticising a pro-Palestinian rally held in Times Square in New York City in the aftermath of Hamas attacks on Israel which left hundreds dead, the progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: “It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it.