These books have captured my attention since last time. I do occasionally leave the house.
Hiroshima by John Hersey
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Gilles Deleuze by Claire Colebrook
Watt by Samuel Beckett
The Conservative-Liberal Coalition edited by Matt Beech and Simon Lee
Feersum Endjinn by Iain M Banks
Deleuze and Feminist Theory edited by Ian Buchanon and Claire Colebrook
Raising the Bar edited by Andrew Harrup
The Strange Death of Tory England by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Conservative Party and the Trade Unions by Peter Dorey
The Corporation Wars: Dissidence by Ken MacLeod
Mass Conservatism edited by Stuart Ball and Ian Holliday
Petersburg by Andrei Bely
The Meaning of David Cameron by Richard Seymour
Coal Black Mornings by Brett Anderson
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Gilles Deleuze: An Introduction by Todd May
Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes
The Employers' Offensive by Tony Cliff
'48 by James Herbert
A Deleuzian Century? edited by Ian Buchanon
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte
You'll Hear From Me by Luis Algorri
A User's Guide to Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Brian Massumi
What's Left? by Nick Cohen
Nomadic Subjects by Rosi Braidotti
The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by HP Lovecraft
Assembly by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
A list heavily featuring (assembling?) Deleuzian stuff this truly is. Certainly some excellent stuff there. Particularly noteworthy is the Massumi, which is the hardest book I've read for a long time, but if you take your time you get a real sense of what Deleuze and Guattari were about and how they can be used to understand what the hell is going on. The section on molecularity and molarity, and on microfascisms are particularly valuable. Even more thought-provoking and interesting, even than the Hardt and Negri latest in my opinion, was Braidotti's Nomadic Subjects. Not only does she critically adapt Deleuze to feminist concerns, drawing on Irigaray and Cixous she makes a convincing case for materialist social theory based heavily around the French difference feminisms. Yes, it does mean I'll have to go there in time. And lastly on matters Deleuze, both the Iain M Banks and Ken MacLeod books certainly have their share of Deleuzian motifs. Ken, in case you're reading this, did you and Iain ever give Deleuze and Guattari a bash?
Yes, and the Tories too. Lots of stuff on the bloody Tories. The pain had better be worth the pay off.
What books have kept you going these last few months?
Overall, 170,236 votes were cast over 93 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. For comparison you can view Quarter One's results here.
Party | Number of Candidates | Total Vote | % | +/-
Q1
| +/- Q2 2017 | Average | +/-
Seats |
Conservative | 97 | 62,013 | 36.4% | -1.9% | -3.0% | 639 | -8 |
Labour | 88 | 59,680 | 35.1% | +5.2% | +6.4% | 678 | +4 |
LibDem | 75 | 30,077 | 17.7% | +2.2% | -0.6% | 401 | +10 |
UKIP | 12 | 1,263 | 0.7% | -1.3% | -2.9% | 105 | -4 |
Green | 38 | 8,549 | 5.0% | +1.4% | -0.1% | 225 | +1 |
SNP* | 2 | 2,040 | 1.2% | -2.8% | +1.2% | 1,020 | -1 |
PC | 0 | | | | | | 0 |
Ind*** | 19 | 4,993 | 2.9% | -2.9% | -0.4% | 263 | +2 |
Other**** | 4 | 1,621 | 1.0% | -0.6% | -0.6% | 405 | -1 |
* There were two by-elections in Scotland
** There was one by-election in Wales
*** There were three Independent clashes
**** Others this quarter consisted of the BNP (42), Farnham Residents (354), Loughton Residents (655), and the Yorkshire Party (570)
Considering how awful Labour started off this quarter, it came back to not do too badly with a significant improvement on the previous round-up and this time last year. The Conservatives slip a little but still come out on top, again only thanks to standing more candidates than everyone else. The Liberal Democrats will be happy with their performance too with a net gain of 10 councillors in the bag (mostly at the expense of the Conservatives, with one apiece taken from the SNP and UKIP(!)). Speaking of which, they continue to do dismally and I doubt their latest celebrity signings, who include a tool who taught his girlfriend's dog to salute Hitler when it hears "gas the Jews!" aren't about to turn their fortunes around.
What can we look forward to next quarter? Well, 24 by-elections are due for July so that alone is going to be a busy month. I expect, notwithstanding some massive movement in national politics, that things will remain pretty much the same.
NB, if you're puzzled about some of the discrepancies between candidate/seats won and loss figures and the number of by-elections, see here for an explanation.
This month saw 36,911 votes cast over 20 local authority (tier one and tier two) contests. All percentages are rounded to the nearest single decimal place. Five council seats changed hands in total. For comparison with May's results, see here.
Party | Number of Candidates | Total Vote | % | +/-
May
| +/- June 17 | Average/
Contest | +/-
Seats |
Conservative | 24 | 9,753 | 26.4% | -12.8% | +6.2% | 406 | -3 |
Labour | 23 | 13,760 | 37.3% | -0.4% | -1.7% | 598 | +1 |
LibDem | 21 | 8,408 | 22.8% | +7.6% | +12.0% | 400 | +6 |
UKIP | 4 | 463 | 1.3% | +0.7% | +1.2% | 116 | -2 |
Green | 10 | 1,683 | 4.6% | -0.4% | -12.7% | 168 | 0 |
SNP | 0 | | | | | | 0 |
PC** | 0 | | | | | | 0 |
Ind*** | 7 | 2,232
| 6.0% |
+4.6% | +1.2% | 319 | +1 |
Other**** | 2 | 612 | 1.7% | +0.8% | -5.6% | 253 | 0 |
* There were no by-elections in Scotland
** There were no by-elections in Wales
*** There were no Independent clashes in June
**** Others this month consisted of the Yorkshire Party (570) and the BNP (42)
Eagle-eyed readers might spot discrepancies between the number of candidates and by-elections, and the plus/minus figures for council seats lost and gained. Do I have dodgy maths? No. There were three seats up in a single ward in Brent (all retained by Labour), and a new three-seat ward in Southwark was created, all of whom were gained by the Liberal Democrats.
Is there anything worth noting this month? The LibDem surge this month appears to be entirely at the expense of the Conservatives, though when we're totting up local by-elections the numbers are always more complex than Parliamentary elections. However, two of their haul is at the latter's expense, which is consistent with my view that the LibDems are better off going for soft, remain-leaning Tory voters than doubling down on the anti-Corbyn stuff. If you don't believe it (or don't want to believe it), look at the by-election patterns over the last year. Before the general election the LibDems did quite well taking councillors off each of the two big parties. Now, they disproportionately advance at the Tories' expense. For instance, in 2018 they have gained one seat at Labour's expense, and 11 from the Conservatives. It's pretty clear where their energies should lie.
7th June
East Staffs BC, Crown Con hold
Mid Devon DC, Cranmore Con hold
South Oxfordshire, Benson and Crowmarsh LDem gain from Con
14th June
Doncaster MB, Town Lab hold
Southwark LB, London Bridge & Bermondsey West New Ward LDem gain x3
21st June
Basildon BC, Lee Chapel North Lab hold
Basildon BC, Pitsea South East Lab gain from UKIP
Basingstoke and Deane BC, Kempshott Con hold
Brent LBC, Willesden Green Lab hold x3
Charnwood BC, Quorn & Mountsorrel Castle Con hold
Cherwell BC, Bicester West Ind gain from Con
Fenland DC, Birch Con hold
South Northamptonshire DC, Astwell Con hold
South Northamptonshire DC, Whittlewood LDem gain from Con
Watford BC, Oxhey LDem hold
West Somerset DC, Alcombe LDem gain from UKIP
28th June
Leicestershire CC, Syston Ridgeway Con hold
North Devon DC, Fremington Ind hold
North Kestevan DC, North Hykeham Mill Con hold
North Kestevan DC, Skellingthorpe Ind hold
