In the remnants of a fractured UK, England is on the brink of collapse where far-right militias rise to power. As Islamophobia and English nationalism ignite brutal violence, 19-year-old Marah Sultana is thrust into a fight for survival. Hunted by forces seeking control, she carries a secret powerful enough to change the course of the war—and the future of the world. In a world in which America’s reign as a superpower has crumbled, its mercenaries now rule in its shadow, In The Second Coming, Tariq Mehmood delivers a searing, unflinching narrative that mirrors his own lifelong struggle for justice. This novel is not just fiction—it’s a reflection of real-world battles. Mehmood’s powerful storytelling compels readers to confront uncomfortable truths while offering a gripping, emotional journey of resistance and survival.

Written with urgency out of a war-time Beirut, this poetry collection registers the griefs and the heroism of the Lebanese, under siege yet again. Sabbagh lends his lyrical voice here, to give a voice to the voiceless, trying to find some harmonic sense out of catastrophe. This book will compel readers, both Lebanese and those with any kind of human heart. While much of the work was written swiftly, on impulse, and almost like, as one of the poem’s titles has it, a ‘War Diary,’ in verse, this work aims nonetheless to last in its significance and resonance at a time when the world as a whole (let alone Lebanon herself) has become so unpredictable, so fickle and so perilous. Night Settles Upon The City aims to be a worthwhile addition to the contemporary literature of war and, more specifically, to the literary representations of the modern Lebanese reality and experience.

As many of our listeners will know, there have been racist uprsings across England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The trigger for the riots was disinformation: that three small girls stabbed to death in Southport on 29 July had been killed by a Muslim asylum seeker. In fact, the suspected killer was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents and is not Muslim. It is true that rightwing mobilization and counter-mobilizations have been on an unprecedented scale, but has this not been building up over many decades? How is this related to Brexit, which some suggest that it was essentially the result of a racist mobilization? Is the presence of people from the former colonies of Britain in the UK the result of active recruitment to do the shit jobs that white British workers refused to do both because of the demeaning nature of these jobs but also the low pay offered? And wasn’t it the Labour government that introduced the first immigration laws in Britain? So what has distinguished Labour from the Tories?

To discuss this and much more, we have today Amrit Wilson, writer, activist, feminist and author of Finding a Voice: Asian women in Britain, published by Daraja Press.