by NiallBourke | Feb 4, 2020 | Reviews
With the U.K sitting in 18th position in the latest Pisa rankings, and the predictable furore about whether this is a justification or indictment of recent educational policy, it’s worth asking do we really know what the Pisa tables mean? On Tuesday 3rd December 2019...
by NiallBourke | Jan 18, 2020 | Reviews
When Labour’s Angela Rayner announced she would scrap Ofsted, I was surprised she was met with such widespread opposition. I mean, I expected some dissenting voices but, from what I saw on the Twiittersphere (and beyond), the idea of scrapping Ofsted wasn’t just...
by NiallBourke | Jan 14, 2020 | Reviews
One thing I’ve been asked regularly at readings and events (well, by ‘regularly’ I mean ‘more than once’) is how emerging poets can go about building up to getting their debut collection published. Emerging fiction writers generally understand that to get a novel...
by NiallBourke | Jan 9, 2020 | Reviews
What I was reading in 2019 (and what I’m looking forward to in 2020): What I’m currently reading: Minor Monuments (Ian Maleney) (Most of) what I read in 2019(ish): The Vegetarian (Han Kang) – Short, excellent and weird. 9/10 A Pity Youth Does Not...
by Niall Bourke | Dec 17, 2019 | Reviews
A list of what I’ve been reading over the last year or two (and I’m sure I’m missing a few) – I hope to review at least some of them soon if I get time: In the ‘to-read next’ pile: What Ends – Andrew Ladd The Eyre Affair – Jasper Fford The Knives of Villalejo – Mathew...
by Niall Bourke | Dec 17, 2019 | Reviews
I have just started ‘Spill Summer Falter Wither’ and I must say it is very good so far. I am about 50 pages in – and nothing has happened, apart from a man has adopted a one-eyed dog. This is exactly the type of book I like – nothing happens per-se, yet the minutiae...
