APRIL 2020
LOVE FROM AROUND THE WORLD // READ YOUR WAY THROUGH THE LOCKDOWN
This issue is a big hug from us to you dear readers. We hope you'll be encouraged by words from around the world as we report on how different communities are coping with the coronavirus crisis. But we also have cheering news: the winner of the first ever JR Young Journalist Prize is announced inside. Plus the first in a two-part feature on life in northern England and its vibrant pockets of Jewish culture. Labour MP Margaret Hodge and former MP Louise Ellman discuss the future for Labour; Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman talks about her new memoir; and there's a visual treat in stained glass from artist Ardyn Halter.
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Feature: JR’s editor Rebecca Taylor (left) with former Labour MP Louise Ellman (centre) and MP Margaret Hodge at Hodge’s office in Portcullis House, March 2020. ©Rob Greig
FEATURE: “WE’LL CARRY ON FIGHTING”
The Labour MP Margaret Hodge (above, left) and former Labour MP Louise Ellman have been two of the fiercest critics of their party in recent years. On the eve of Labour’s leadership election, Rebecca Taylor speaks to both women about the future challenges for tackling antisemitism, Brexit, immigration – and bumping into Jeremy Corbyn in the lift
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BROWSE THE FULL CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE BELOW
WHAT’S NEW
From Italy to Melbourne, we hear how communities around the world are coping with the ‘new normal’; JR’s Young Journalist Prize winner!
FEATURE
Rebecca Taylor speaks to Margaret Hodge MP and former MP Louise Ellman about the challenges facing the new Labour leader.
FEATURE
Monica Bohm-Duchen outlines her plans to take the Insiders/Outsiders festival into the future.
PASSPORT
Our friends in the north: the first in a series which explores the small towns and cities in the north of England to uncover the hidden Jewish history in these post-industrial heartlands.
ART
Dazzling waterfalls fill the windows of Highgate Synagogue. David Benmayer meets the artist Ardyn Halter, who turns nature into glass.
MUSIC
David Conway reports on the rediscovery of the 18th-century musical gem Ester; grab your dancing shoes for shul of rock.
FILM & TV
The animation magic of Halas and Batchelor; new TV comedy with a ‘jangle’; quarantine culture.
BOOKS
Author Eva Hoffman interviews journalist Hadley Freeman about her powerful new book House of Glass; the latest war memoirs; AB Yehoshua’s The Tunnel; the meaning of Houdini; Pamela Peled on a provocative new book on the Israeli occupation.
THE YIDDISHISTS
Our series that uncovers the YIVO archive. This issue: Passover in the DP camps.
SEPHARDI RENAISSANCE
The Wolf of Baghdad – now in graphic novel form; Jane S Gerber explores the flowering of Sephardi culture across Europe’s cities; a Bukharian family’s story.
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Our three-month guide to art, books, film, music, theatre and other cultural events in the UK, Europe and Israel.
FAMILY
Miriam Berry reviews The Missing by Michael Rosen.
MEET THE READER
Tony Abrahams in Bushey Heath, London.
