A National Joke - Popular Comedy and English Cultural Identity - Andy Medhurst

Advantages: Well-researched, factual, gently irrerevent, thoroughly readable
Disadvantages: None

...and journals, as well as talking to people like John Cleese, Sir Roy Strong, and Roy Faiers, editor of the staunchly traditionalist quarterly magazine 'This England'. An extensive section of notes, bibliography and index is included, while Humphrys' book cites a mere dozen titles of works consulted, eschewing notes and index altogether. In redefining English national identity, Paxman starts with a nation of people who once knew who they were - polite, unexcitable, reserved, steadfast and trustworthy. After the 'finest hour' in Churchill's phrase, it suddenly went totally pear-shaped at the end of the war in 1945. Self-doubt, an inability to accept the end of empire and a highly contentious, ambivalent attitude towards Europe have led to a national malaise and the widespread belief that, unlike our European partners, somehow we don't know where... Read review

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Advantages: Entertaining, interesting and informative
Disadvantages: Requires a basic prior knowledge of Poker.

...Although the card game of poker has been played in various forms for nearly two hundred years now, it's popularity here in the UK has soared over the past twelve months. This could be due to more accessabillity to the game, via both the internet and widespread television coverage of major and celebrity tournaments. This popularity has resulted in a surge of poker related products being sold. Poker sets and chips were sold in record numbers last year, and books on poker strategies have been flying off the shelves. One such book is "Poker Nation - A high-stakes, low-life adventure into the heart of a gambling", by Andy Bellin. Andy Bellin studied astronomy and physics at Wesleyan University, but dropped out after spending too much time playing poker when he should have been studying. He went on to become a jornalist, writing articles... Read review

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Advantages: Straightforward questions for Foundation level
Disadvantages: Limited guidance for extended essays

...This is a workbook intended for students studying for AQA GCSE English Language, Specification A. Although forming part of the Language syllabus, this is in fact a collection of poems from the AQA Anthology. They are all poems from different cultures or traditions and most are written by non-native speakers; some of the poems, such as 'Half-Caste', feature non-standard English. In total there are sixteen poems, and they are divided into Cluster 1 and Cluster 2, eight poems each. Poems by Imtiaz Dharker and Grace Nichols are featured in both clusters, whilst Cluster 1 also includes poems by Chinua Achebe, Nissim Ezekiel, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Edward Brathwaite, Tatamkhulu Afrika and Denise Levertove. Cluster 2 additionally has poems by Sujata Bhatt, Tom Leonard, John Agard, Moniza Alvi, Niyi Osundare and Derek Walcott. In the exam... Read review

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