Culture

British reality TV show The X Factor, which presents itself as a singing competition, has succeeded from 2005-08 in securing the number one Christmas single in the British charts for the winner of the competition. The X Factor has been repeatedly criticised for being rigged and for its shallow commercialism.

Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography By John Fisher HarperCollins, 2009 627 pages, $33 (pb)

Stalin’s Nemesis: The Exile and Murder of Leon Trotsky By Bertrand Patenaude Faber and Faber, 2009 340 pages, $50 (pb)

In 1899, no woman could Vote, but Some suffered, were jailed, So today you count! Women in 2009 are MPs, can be the Premier of Queensland, but If any fell pregnant and didn't want to be They could be charged and punished for An abortion

At Christmas time, 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducted a version of Beethoven’s 9th symphony in Berlin in which he changed one word in the well-known Ode to Joy in the fourth movement. "Freiheit" ("Freedom") replaced "Freude" ("Joy"), to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall that had occurred weeks previously

John Fleming still rides free one hundred and seventy years after the massacre. The plaque set up to honour the twenty-eight (who were slaughtered for the theft of a cow) has been defaced by Fleming who is still very much alive in Northern

Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy By Arundhati Roy Penguin, 2009 256 pages, $30

Raising My Voice: The Extraordinary Story of the Afghan Woman Who Dares to Speak Out By Malalai Joya Macmillan, 2009 278 pages, $34.99 (pb)

Bless-ed be O reverential Economy Append another clause to Deuteronomy To wit, Mammon updating Moses Verily thou needst shit to grow roses, On garden spread warm manure Draw forth the bloom pure. All hail our ubiquitous Economy Before whom

>This Little Kiddy Went to Market: The Corporate Capture of ChildhoodBy Sharon Beder, Wendy Varney & Richard GosdenUNSW Press, 2009288 pages, $39.95 (pb).

There’s a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars & the Rise and Fall of ‘60s Counter-Culture By Peter Doggett Canongate, 2008 598 pages, $29.95 (pb)

Becoming Muhammad Ali — The story of Cassius Clay, a charismatic black boxer from Kentucky, who defied the personal and political restraints of his time, to emerge a global hero. SBS2, Sunday, November 29, 11am. Living Black — Australia's only