The Cost of Fear…

Zombies, says key zombie movie overlord George A Romero, have been around since Jesus. He has much else to say about the nature of horror and his role in it. In timely Halloween fashion, we also have Brad Dourif (who voiced that video nasty favourite Chucky) deconstructing what makes us scared; and finance journalist Bruce Watson analyses which monsters rise at which point in the economic cycle.

Lech Walesa had an awful lot to do with the collapse of totalitarian communism in the Eastern Bloc. The former Solidarity boss turned Polish President crosses swords with our own Brendan O’Neill. Fascinating interview with an intriguing line about Mandela.

And more…

Letter To My Younger Self is with one of the great sportsmen of our time, AP McCoy. Champion jockey 18 times, he provides a fascinating insight into the selfishness and focus that has driven him – and the part his wife played in his success. Great line about broken bones.

John Bird looks at Shakespeare, at how he helps open the door, as John puts it, to human life in all its variegations. And why it’s worth starting with him young.

Rachel Johnson went to see the film Le Weekend and got concerned her life was being recorded and written into a movie. She looks at the nature of relationships and how love evolves.

Elsewhere, we have vendor Lee Sauntson from Reading. Another of the many ex-servicemen selling The Issue, he is a fine advocate for his town. We also have author Patrick McCabe picking up the fear motif by looking at fear as delivered in literature, and War Of The Worlds composer Jeff Wayne features in My Week (there is tennis).