Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

Kissinger’s Year: 1973 by Alistair Horne
Orion Books, £20

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce by Slavoj Zizek
Verso, £7.99

Having been lectured by a stalwart activist on the centrality of revolt to human dignity, Razumov, the brooding imposter-revolutionary of Joseph Conrad’s Under Western Eyes, scoffs: “As if anything could be changed! In this world of men nothing can be changed – neither happiness nor misery. They can only be displaced at the cost of corrupted consciences and broken lives – a futile game for arrogant philosophers and sanguinary triflers.”

Marcus Miller: Tutu Revisited/London Jazz Festival 2009
Barbican, London

A cursory glance across this year’s London Jazz Festival programme offered a sharp reminder that the legacy and influence of Miles Davis on the jazz consciousness remains undimmed nearly 20 years after his death. The trumpeter and composer was at the forefront of virtually every major development in jazz in the second half of the 20th century from cool jazz to hard bop and from fusion to jazz-rock and as a bandleader had an uncanny ear for sidemen, a list of whom reads like a Who’s Who: John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Keith Jarrett, Cannonball Adderley to name just a few.

The Last Labour Government: Why Only a Referendum on Electoral Reform Can Save the Party Now
Compass

With a general election imminent, predictions of what might happen are legion. The latest pamphlet from Compass, however, goes beyond predictions of the result to forecast the collapse of the Labour Party if the election goes badly. As the title The Last Labour Government suggests, Compass believes that the Labour Party will never govern again. However, they go on to offer a way back from the brink – through a referendum on proportional representation to be held on election day.

2012
Director: Roland Emmerich

I always thought the Orange cinema adverts featured John Cusack. It turns out I was wrong. The obnoxious producer who ruins independent films by introducing bizarre phone-related subplots to them is actually someone called Brennan Brown who happens to look like Cusack.