What part of transparency doesn't power get? In Iran, the digital revolution continues, and it is - for now - more heartening than dispiriting - to see bravery, allied to new technology, attempt to express the natural human wish to have a say, and to be counted. Meanwhile, as Obama swats flies and millions cheer (a new form of charisma), that unkempt and awkward man, Brown, holds on to his plans for a secret inquiry, to learn more lessons. If, as reported today, both Butler and Hutton - even those whitewashwers of yore - consider the need for some sort of open exploration of how Britain came to go to war - then how much longer can the PM hold out?
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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