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Hillegonda Rietveld, professor of sonic culture, London South Bank University, is reading Titia Ketelaar¡¯s Mind the Gap: Het Engelse eilandgevoel en de vele tegenstellingen in ¨¦¨¦n land (Spectrum, 2017). ¡°With a focus on Englishness, Ketelaar ¨C who spent seven years as UK correspondent for the Dutch daily paper NRC Handelsblad ¨C provides a Dutch perspective on the British faultlines that became apparent during the Brexit referendum. She explains how the majority of the Brexit vote emerged from a disenfranchised section of the English population living in economically struggling areas, which can be roughly mapped on to a class-based North-South divide and contrasted to the inhabitants of wealthier cities, especially London. English identity has been given a sharper focus by a devolving UK, enhancing the longing for a mythical green and pleasant land. This is further given shape by perceived threats from the outside: scapegoats in the form of migrants and Europe. As the book grapples with England¡¯s enigmatic island mentality, its citizens are urged to mend its multiple internal gaps.¡±

Richard Joyner, emeritus professor of chemistry, Nottingham Trent University, is reading Ian Rankin¡¯s Rather Be the Devil (Orion, 2017). ¡°The best academics go on forever. Likewise ex-Detective Inspector John Rebus, formerly of Lothian and the Borders Constabulary and Police Scotland. In Rebus¡¯ 21st outing, Ian Rankin deploys his regular roster of characters: Darryl Christie, Malcolm Fox, Siobhan Clarke, Deborah Quant, Christine Essom and of course ¡®Big Ger¡¯ Cafferty. He adds his usual leavening of assorted low-lifes, a few of the rich and/or famous, including a banker and an ageing pop musician, and throws in a (wholly one-dimensional) Ukrainian villain. The ending leaves no doubt that Rebus¡¯ career, despite a health scare caused by the tobacco habit he is now trying to kick, is not finished. Only Rankin can make mobsters¡¯ violence seem as enfolding and comfortable as an electric blanket.¡±

Michael Marinetto, senior lecturer in business ethics, Cardiff University Business School, is reading Joe Erle, Cahal Moran and Zach Ward-Perkins¡¯ The Econocracy: The Perils of Leaving Economics to the Experts (Manchester University Press, 2017). ¡°Reading The Econocracy felt like one of those punk moments when a younger generation does not wait for the established (older) order to fade away or shuffle off before attempting a coup d¡¯¨¦tat . The book is written by former University of Manchester students who were founders of the Post-Crash Economics Society. The Econocracy is their attempt to redefine economics ¨C its first principles, purpose and pedagogy, since the teaching of economics in universities, they claim, is flawed and outdated. It proves an inspiring read ¨C a telling indictment of academic economics, which in effect is overseen by a class of professorial aristocrats who act like modern-day witch doctors. The book is sharp, incisive, readable ¨C and humane. It could be retitled: ¡®Never Mind the Economists¡¯.¡±