Matthew Gilley

Jan 19, 2025 | plymouthherald.co.uk | Katie Timms |Molly Dowrick |Matthew Gilley

Every Plymothian has likely strolled past the Naval Memorial on Plymouth Hoe at some point, perhaps not fully appreciating that it's one of only three memorials in England listing the names of thousands of naval servicemen and women tragically lost at sea during the World Wars. You may have even toured the memorial as a child on a school trip or as an adult, guided by local tour guides or volunteers from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Nov 26, 2023 | newstatesman.com | Barney Horner |Pippa Bailey |Matthew Gilley |Ellen Peirson-Hagger

Watford Forever: How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other by John Preston, with Elton JohnViking, 304pp, £22When Elton John became chairman of Watford Football Club in 1976, they were one of the worst professional teams in England. After appointing the meticulous manager Graham Taylor a year later, Watford managed three dazzling promotions in six years, finishing as the second-best club in England by 1983.

Oct 18, 2023 | newstatesman.com | Pippa Bailey |Ellen Peirson-Hagger |Michael Prodger |Matthew Gilley

The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health by Camilla NordAllen Lane, 304pp, £25The statistics tell us that we are in the middle of a mental health epidemic, yet our best available treatments – antidepressants and psychological therapy – only work in around 50 per cent of cases, and neuroscientists do not agree on any single definition of “mental health”.

Oct 17, 2023 | newstatesman.com | Matthew Gilley

Benjamin Myers, who was born in Durham in 1976, is the author of nine novels, as well as short stories, non-fiction and poetry. In the 1990s he worked as a music journalist for Melody Maker. His breakout novel The Gallows Pole (2017), about a Yorkshire coining gang in the 18th century, won the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction and was recently adapted for the BBC by the director Shane Meadows.

Oct 2, 2023 | newstatesman.com | Alona Ferber |Rachel Cunliffe |Michael Prodger |Matthew Gilley

Permacrisis: A Plan to Fix a Fractured World by Gordon Brown, Mohamed A El-Erian and Michael Spence, with Reid LidowSimon & Schuster, 336pp, £25In January 1989, months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, a rare display of global unity came into effect with the Montreal Protocol. Signed in 1987, the landmark agreement phased out the chlorofluorocarbons that were punching a hole in the ozone layer.