The Latest Breaking News from George Orwell

Artists, writers and film-makers have long been inspired by the stories – and myths – of the 1984-5 strike. But how do those most affected by its legacy feel about the portrayals?

The Australian writer explores the Nineteen Eighty-Four author’s treatment of women in an empathetic biography of his first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy

The evils of empire are brought to life in this fascinating imagining of Orwell’s days as a colonial policeman, but the perspective of Burmese people is sidelined

Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful, wrote George Orwell in his essay on Salvador Dali. Perhaps memoirs need merely to reveal the unsuspected. 

Iqbal Khan’s production lays bare the uncomfortable parallels between a mid-20th century Soviet Union and today’s marauding politicians

The US writer’s fictionalised portrait of the young Eric Blair’s time with the imperial police in Burma is a keenly felt and vividly researched account of colonial bigotry and power

An American chemist’s recipe advising salt and hot milk does not sound like a nice cuppa to me

In many ways, the long 21st century began when Apple launched the Macintosh with its ‘1984’ Super Bowl ad

At the British artist’s new Melbourne work, you can exchange a ratty old ball for a pristine new one. Just don’t leave an apple instead

The idea of free speech sparked into life 2,500 years ago in Ancient Greece – in part because it served a politician’s interests. The ability to speak freely was seen as essential for the new Athenian democracy, which the politician Cleisthenes both introduced and benefited from.

The British high street has for years been dominated by a chain of cheap-and-cheerful pubs boasting straightforward food, inexpensive pints and mad carpets. Oh, and political propaganda. As Spoons founder Tim Martin is granted a knighthood, Katie Rosseinsky dives into a polarising brand that we can never seem to agree…