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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How a small Ohio town became the 'center of gravity' in the GOP's realignment
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Republicans came on Good Friday, condemning corporate America and rallying locals to have faith that their city's paper mill could somehow be saved. One by one, in the shadow of Pixelle Specialty Works' towering red- and white-striped smokestack, they unloaded on the Miami-based private equity firm that plans to close it this summer. H.I.G. Capital, said Sen. Jon Husted, was ignoring the personal toll on more than 800 employees here. 'If the private equity firms who do this to communities had to go walk through and look at every one of you in the eye and hear your stories and see the devastation that they cause when they make selfish decisions,' Husted said, 'they would never do what they do.' Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost aimed his iPhone at the crowd and snapped a picture, which he declared 'Exhibit A' in any potential courtroom fight. 'You just heard from the good cops,' Yost said of the politicians who had spoken before him. 'Meet the bad cop.' And Sen. Bernie Moreno, who organized the April event after writing a letter that blasted ownership as 'Wall Street elites' possessed by 'corporate greed,' shared details from his phone conversation that morning with an H.I.G. official. The mill, Moreno said, had survived the Civil War, two World Wars and the Great Depression. 'It has to be able,' Moreno added, 'to survive a private equity company.' A decade ago, such public shaming of the private sector by GOP officeholders would have been unthinkable. But the uproar around Chillicothe reflects a continuing political realignment under President Donald Trump, whose economic populism has shaken Republicans' pro-business coalition. Moreno, a multimillionaire who made his money selling luxury cars, is emblematic of the shift. He won his seat last year with Trump's endorsement, defeating Sen. Sherrod Brown, a three-term Democrat known for his populist, pro-labor views. Republicans painted Brown and other Democrats as elitists out of touch with places like Chillicothe and surrounding Ross County, where Trump and Moreno both won in 2024. 'It's the most interesting political shift that I've ever seen,' Moreno said in an interview. 'The center of gravity for the Democratic Party is Martha's Vineyard. The center of gravity for the Republican Party is Chillicothe, Ohio.' Pixelle announced plans to shutter the Chillicothe mill in April, triggering the Moreno-led stampede to town days later. The company has seen a decreased demand for the carbonless paper made there as the use of digital receipts and invoices becomes more common. 'We are committed to working closely with local, state, and federal officials to explore future opportunities for the site, including the potential for a new owner and/or eventual redevelopment,' Pixelle wrote in an statement provided to NBC News. The effort to save the mill, or to at least ensure a new employer can take it over as quickly as possible, hit a snag this month. H.I.G. and Pixelle reneged on an agreement to pause the shutdown timeline and keep the factory open through the end of the year — a reprieve that would have bought time to identify a new tenant or use for the property. It had been the one shred of good news Moreno delivered at his April rally. 'Bernie has been the face of this,' said Jai Chabria, a longtime Republican strategist in Ohio. 'Whether he's successful or not is not the measure of where we are. If you look back at the Republican Party of 20 years ago, this is certainly not where a wealthy Republican senator would be expected to lead. Bernie has really embraced where the party has gone.' Even so, Katie Seewer, a spokesperson for the Ohio Democratic Party, faulted Republicans for 'the latest in a long streak of bad economic news' in the state, noting that Moreno had raised hopes that the mill's closure wouldn't happen this year. 'Republicans own these failures and many others that have created an economy that isn't working for Ohio,' Seewer added. Pixelle is scheduled to end all Chillicothe operations by Aug. 10. The workers there — many of them second- and third-generation paper mill employees — are now waiting to see how much of the tough talk from Moreno and his colleagues leads to action. 'Bernie's railing against private equity,' said Scott Wiesman, who has worked at the mill for 30 years. 'But if you Google it, he's invested in private equity. So how evil is it, Bernie?' Mayor Luke Feeney, a Democrat, gives Moreno more credit. 'My hope and belief is that his efforts have been genuine and sincere,' Feeney said. 'All of those guys that got up there and on that stage said, 'We will sue them if they do this to you' — I hope they stick to it, and until they don't, I'm good with it.' But, Feeney added, 'if it turns out that it was just a dog-and-pony show, then I'll be pretty frustrated, because we're left with the aftermath here.' Chillicothe, about an hour's drive south of Columbus, has a proud history as Ohio's first state capital. Today, it has a population of roughly 22,000, a promising tourist economy boosted by the nearby Hopewell earthworks and mounds, and a redeveloped downtown that Feeney holds up as a small-town success story. Less than a mile from Pixelle, bustling Paint Street features two craft breweries, a boba house and other trendy businesses tucked into tidily restored storefronts. The name of a hip cafe, Paper City Coffee, pays tribute to one of the town's top employers. (Countywide, the mill is the third-largest source of jobs, behind the regional hospital system and a Kenworth Trucks plant.) The mill is 'as much a part of the scenery as the hills and everything else around here,' said Michael Throne, the head of the Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce, who recalled his first glimpse of the smokestack when driving to town for a job interview years ago. 'I'd seen smokestacks before,' Throne said. 'But nothing that towered over the landscape of the city.' Chillicothe's papermaking days date to 1812. For more than 100 years, the city was a hub for Mead, a company that would become a household name in school and office supplies. 'The paper mill really supported southeast Ohio,' said Jeff Allen, president of the United Steelworkers Local 731, which represents Pixelle workers. 'They used to tell us that for every job in the mill, there were three outside the mill.' Over time, Mead's name slowly disappeared. Market forces — a world less reliant on paper, a tangle of mergers and acquisitions — kept bouncing the old mill into new investment portfolios. In 2022, H.I.G. purchased what four years earlier had been rebranded as Pixelle. 'We were Mead kids. Our kids were Mead kids,' said Tim Jenkins, a mill employee for 38 years. 'With the strike in '75, you walked through the lunch line, you could get a free lunch when you said, 'I'm a Mead kid.'' 'Little things like that you never forget.' Feeney, who grew up in Seattle and moved to Chillicothe after graduating from law school in Cleveland, was elected mayor in 2015. National Democrats, eager to project strength in conservative-leaning parts of the Midwest, gave him a speaking slot at their convention the following year. Back then, Feeney estimated, the paper mill accounted for about 13% of the city's income tax receipts. The number has dropped to about 8%, reflecting a more diverse local economy, but also a shrinking workforce. Feeney could never shake the thought that the mill's narrow focus wouldn't age well. 'In the back of my mind, I figured that there was some chance that the paper mill won't be around forever,' he said. 'Paper might not be used in a hundred years.' Despite obvious signs of decline, Pixelle's announcement that it would close the mill came as a shock. No one wanted to believe the worst. 'We saw changes in how they were running the business, and you could tell that wasn't sustainable,' said Allen, who has worked at the mill for 37 years. 'But I don't think anybody thought it was going to truly close. We just thought we would recover — they would make changes, and it would straighten itself out.' While the Pixelle news was gutting, if not entirely unexpected, Moreno's interest in taking on its owners came as a much bigger surprise. Once a swing state, Ohio has heavily favored Republicans in recent elections. But in 2012, voters in the state backed President Barack Obama after being inundated with ads and messaging that characterized his GOP rival, Mitt Romney, as a soulless businessman. Specifically, the ads tied Romney's work in private equity to job losses in Ohio and across the industrial heartland. Republicans at the time dismissed such tactics as attacks on capitalism. 'My political thinking certainly evolved from the Mitt Romney time to today,' Moreno said. 'While Mitt Romney and the people at Bain Capital made a lot of money doing that, they also caused a lot of damage. Fundamentally, that's wrong, and that's not the way Republicans saw things back then.' Moreno said he first learned of plans to close the mill from a car dealer in Chillicothe and described his reaction as 'quite frankly, just pissed off.' He directed his staff to make the issue a priority. His deputy state director, a Chillicothe native, recently moved back to the city. 'I was bowling, my phone rings,' Allen recalled. 'This guy says he's from Bernie Moreno's office, that Bernie's going to come to town. I said, 'Listen, I'm in a bowling league, can I call you back?' I thought, 'You know what? I better listen to this.' But I was suspect of it.' Feeney recalled reading Moreno's strongly worded letter that demanded answers from the owners: 'I don't think I disagreed with anything in it.' But the reprieve that Moreno's saber-rattling helped win was even more short-lived than expected. Less than two months after the Good Friday rally, Pixelle issued an updated notice that the mill would close within 60 days — not, as owners had pledged, at the end of the year. 'I would prefer not to shut down at all, but, remember, I have no leverage,' Moreno said. 'There's no tool in my toolbox where they had to listen to me.' Moreno said H.I.G. instead 'offered up an alternative that was workable' and that could involve transferring the land to a community organization free of environmental concerns. Such an arrangement could make it easier to reuse or redevelop the site. Feeney described such a situation as ideal. But the mayor worries about the site becoming home to a low-staffed data center. 'I don't want to see hundreds of acres and 20 employees,' Feeney said. State and local officials also remain engaged, prepared to assist in talks to sell or redevelop the site and to help match displaced workers with new jobs. Many note an anticipated surge in other skilled manufacturing jobs in the wider region. There are plans for new semiconductor, drone and electric vehicle battery plants all within about a 45-minute drive from Chillicothe. There also remains hope, especially among Pixelle workers, that the site can continue as a paper mill, with corrugated cardboard and other packaging materials mentioned as a possibility if carbonless is no longer an option. Representatives from three large paper companies have toured the mill but found it unsuitable for their needs, Moreno said. 'They all kind of told me the same thing,' he added. 'The patient's too far gone' because of lack of proper investments. The experience has been instructive, Moreno said. He has ordered his staff to conduct 'a full audit of Ohio companies' that in the coming years might find themselves in a situation similar to Pixelle's and identify ways to intervene before it's too late. 'I don't want to play Whac-A-Mole,' Moreno said. 'I want to be proactive and avoid the next 20 Chillicothes.' This article was originally published on
Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Inside abandoned UK airport set to reopen with cheap flights to holiday hotspots
From being bombed in World War Two to ferrying business passengers to Amsterdam, a transport hub which is no longer in use could soon be ready for its next chapter This ghost town of an airport site could soon spring back into life thanks to a £500 million regeneration. If plans come to fruition, holidaymakers would be able to jetaway to European hotspots on low-cost flights for the first time in 12 years. The last scheduled flight left Manston Airport in Kent for Amsterdam on April 9, 2014 and since then its been used as a lorry park. Currently undergoing a major refurbishment, the revived airport is slated to reopen in 2028. The airport can be found in the village of Manston in the Thanet district of Kent, 14 miles north-east from Canterbury by the coast. It was used by the Royal Air Force during the World Wars after it opened in 1918, and was frequently targeted by bombs during World War Two's Battle of Britain. Manston has a single runway that is 2,748 metres, or 9,016 feet, long. Wide at 60 metres, it was designed to handle emergency landings for Concorde and the Space Shuttle. Initially, the revived airport will focus on cargo operations but plans are afoot to introduce passenger services. The multimillion pound revamp will include new terminals and upgraded runways. Tony Freudmann, main board director at controlling airport company RiverOak Strategic Partners, told Kent Online: "Looking at the way the passenger market is going, we are confident we can persuade one or more low-cost carriers to base their planes here. "It does not work for us if they fly in just once a day because that is not economic. If they base three or four planes at Manston, we will have rotations three or four times a day, as they have at Southend. "That will cover our costs and bring passenger footfall through the terminal all day and every day. We will reinstate the twice daily KLM service to Amsterdam Schiphol that we had before and that will give business people in particular access to almost anywhere in the world." Passenger routes to the the Netherlands, Spain, Cyprus and Malta could be introduced, flown by budget airlines including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air. Survey work is underway at the airport site and expected to be concluded in early 2026. A public consultation into possible flight routes will be launched at that time. If plans go ahead, construction work is expected to be completed by early 2028, when recruitment for operational roles would begin. Demand for flights at Luton Airport and Stansted Airport is said to suggest additional additional passenger flights would be popular in the region. "Opening an airport – even one like Manston which already has in place a full-length runway, taxiways and airport buildings – takes a huge amount of preparation and planning first and so it will be many months before we are ready to welcome construction teams on site," a post earlier this year on the RiverOak website reads. Opposition to the proposal to revamp the airport has been loud and coordinated, with groups such as Don't Save Manston Airport noting that the travel hub previously failed commercially and arguing that it will do again. They have argued for increased aviation capacity is bad for the environment.
Wales Online
2 days ago
- Business
- Wales Online
Abandoned UK airport could reopen and offer cheap Ryanair and easyJet flights to Europe
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info An abandoned airport, shut for the past decade, is poised to make a return, offering budget flights to some of Europe's top destinations. Manston Airport in Kent, a former Royal Air Force base renowned for its pivotal role in both World Wars, is currently undergoing substantial refurbishment with an anticipated reopening in 2028. Initially, the rejuvenated airport will focus on cargo operations, but plans are afoot to introduce passenger services eventually. Tony Freudmann, a main board director at RiverOak Strategic Partners, the firm overseeing the airport, conveyed his optimism about the reintroduction of passenger services to the BBC, stating they have plans to attract short-haul carriers to popular European destinations. Join the North Wales Live WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone The refurbishment of Manston is estimated to cost a whopping £500 million, encompassing new terminals and upgraded runways. The airport features a single runway that measures 2,748 meters (9,016 feet) in length and is notably wide at 60 metres, designed to accommodate emergency landings for Concorde and the Space Shuttle, reports The Mirror. If the cargo side of the operation proves to be successful, passenger routes to countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Cyprus and Malta could be introduced. It was reported three years ago that the airport's owners were in discussions with budget airlines including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air. At the time, Mr Freudmann told KentOnline: "Looking at the way the passenger market is going, we are confident we can persuade one or more low-cost carriers to base their planes here. "It does not work for us if they fly in just once a day because that is not economic. If they base three or four planes at Manston, we will have rotations three or four times a day, as they have at Southend. "That will cover our costs and bring passenger footfall through the terminal all day and every day. We will reinstate the twice daily KLM service to Amsterdam Schiphol that we had before and that will give business people in particular access to almost anywhere in the world." Despite there being no further updates on this endeavour since then, with RiverOak not responding to The Mirror's request for an update this month, the bustle at nearby hubs like Luton and Stansted could indicate ample demand for more passenger flights in the area. Reflecting on the steps required to launch services, a message from earlier in the year on the RiverOak website said: "Opening an airport – even one like Manston which already has in place a full-length runway, taxiways and airport buildings – takes a huge amount of preparation and planning first and so it will be many months before we are ready to welcome construction teams on site." (Image: KMG / SWNS) Survey work is set to commence this year and the next at the airport site, with ambitions to finalise "the airport master plan – a process which we expect to conclude in early 2026". A public consultation on potential flight paths will also be initiated during this period. "In early 2028, we expect construction works to be complete and recruitment for operational roles to begin to allow us to assemble the team and begin detailed preparations for reopening later on in 2028," the statement continued. However, the plans to refurbish the airport have faced some significant opposition, with groups like Don't Save Manston Airport highlighting the site's previous commercial failures and raising concerns about environmental impacts from increased aviation capacity. RiverOak, which acquired the site for £14million has indicated intentions to initiate operations with five cargo flights daily. Despite recommendations for refusal by planners, the redevelopment of Manston Airport was approved in 2023. The Planning Inspectorate expressed reservations about the airport's ability to offer services that are "additional to, or different from" those at other airports, its potential detrimental effects on the environment, and the likelihood of increased traffic on local roads. Since its closure in 2015 following years of financial difficulties, Manston Airport has been repurposed as a lorry park to ease temporary cross-Channel traffic congestion. The final flight to leave Manston was bound for Amsterdam on 9 April 2014. Formerly Kent's sole large airport, the region is home to smaller aviation facilities including Rochester Airport and Lydd Airport. The developers of the new scheme have claimed that up to 650 construction jobs and an additional 2,000 permanent jobs will be created when the project is finished, per their website. They said: "The project requires no government funding and has attracted several international investors who are prepared to invest £800 million in this deprived part of the country." Although the development bypassed local planning bodies due to being classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, it faced legal hurdles. After the Secretary of State for Transport gave the green light in 2020 for Manston to reopen as a freight hub, the approval was initially quashed, leading to resubmission and subsequent reapproval, according to the Kent Messenger. In World War II, Manston airfield nearly met with destruction from heavy bombing and played host to numerous undetonated explosives. Positioned near the battlefront, the site was used as an emergency landing strip for badly damaged planes. Find out what's happening near you
North Wales Live
2 days ago
- Business
- North Wales Live
Abandoned UK airport could reopen and offer cheap Ryanair and easyJet flights to Europe
An abandoned airport, shut for the past decade, is poised to make a return, offering budget flights to some of Europe's top destinations. Manston Airport in Kent, a former Royal Air Force base renowned for its pivotal role in both World Wars, is currently undergoing substantial refurbishment with an anticipated reopening in 2028. Initially, the rejuvenated airport will focus on cargo operations, but plans are afoot to introduce passenger services eventually. Tony Freudmann, a main board director at RiverOak Strategic Partners, the firm overseeing the airport, conveyed his optimism about the reintroduction of passenger services to the BBC, stating they have plans to attract short-haul carriers to popular European destinations. Join the North Wales Live WhatsApp community group where you can get the latest stories delivered straight to your phone The refurbishment of Manston is estimated to cost a whopping £500 million, encompassing new terminals and upgraded runways. The airport features a single runway that measures 2,748 meters (9,016 feet) in length and is notably wide at 60 metres, designed to accommodate emergency landings for Concorde and the Space Shuttle, reports The Mirror. If the cargo side of the operation proves to be successful, passenger routes to countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Cyprus and Malta could be introduced. It was reported three years ago that the airport's owners were in discussions with budget airlines including Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air. At the time, Mr Freudmann told KentOnline: "Looking at the way the passenger market is going, we are confident we can persuade one or more low-cost carriers to base their planes here. "It does not work for us if they fly in just once a day because that is not economic. If they base three or four planes at Manston, we will have rotations three or four times a day, as they have at Southend. "That will cover our costs and bring passenger footfall through the terminal all day and every day. We will reinstate the twice daily KLM service to Amsterdam Schiphol that we had before and that will give business people in particular access to almost anywhere in the world." Despite there being no further updates on this endeavour since then, with RiverOak not responding to The Mirror's request for an update this month, the bustle at nearby hubs like Luton and Stansted could indicate ample demand for more passenger flights in the area. Reflecting on the steps required to launch services, a message from earlier in the year on the RiverOak website said: "Opening an airport – even one like Manston which already has in place a full-length runway, taxiways and airport buildings – takes a huge amount of preparation and planning first and so it will be many months before we are ready to welcome construction teams on site." Survey work is set to commence this year and the next at the airport site, with ambitions to finalise "the airport master plan – a process which we expect to conclude in early 2026". A public consultation on potential flight paths will also be initiated during this period. "In early 2028, we expect construction works to be complete and recruitment for operational roles to begin to allow us to assemble the team and begin detailed preparations for reopening later on in 2028," the statement continued. However, the plans to refurbish the airport have faced some significant opposition, with groups like Don't Save Manston Airport highlighting the site's previous commercial failures and raising concerns about environmental impacts from increased aviation capacity. RiverOak, which acquired the site for £14million has indicated intentions to initiate operations with five cargo flights daily. Despite recommendations for refusal by planners, the redevelopment of Manston Airport was approved in 2023. The Planning Inspectorate expressed reservations about the airport's ability to offer services that are "additional to, or different from" those at other airports, its potential detrimental effects on the environment, and the likelihood of increased traffic on local roads. Since its closure in 2015 following years of financial difficulties, Manston Airport has been repurposed as a lorry park to ease temporary cross-Channel traffic congestion. The final flight to leave Manston was bound for Amsterdam on 9 April 2014. Formerly Kent's sole large airport, the region is home to smaller aviation facilities including Rochester Airport and Lydd Airport. The developers of the new scheme have claimed that up to 650 construction jobs and an additional 2,000 permanent jobs will be created when the project is finished, per their website. They said: "The project requires no government funding and has attracted several international investors who are prepared to invest £800 million in this deprived part of the country." Although the development bypassed local planning bodies due to being classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, it faced legal hurdles. After the Secretary of State for Transport gave the green light in 2020 for Manston to reopen as a freight hub, the approval was initially quashed, leading to resubmission and subsequent reapproval, according to the Kent Messenger. In World War II, Manston airfield nearly met with destruction from heavy bombing and played host to numerous undetonated explosives. Positioned near the battlefront, the site was used as an emergency landing strip for badly damaged planes.
Scotsman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
The Moon's More Feeble Fire and To The Shades Descend, by Allan Gaw review: 'addictive'
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... These two novels are the second and third by Allan Gaw, featuring as hero the Edinburgh-born pathologist, Dr Jack Cuthbert. The Moon's More Feeble Fire was published in April, The Shades Descend is out this month, and these follow the first book in the series, The Silent House of Sleep, released last year and previously reviewed in The Scotsman. There is a fourth Cuthbert novel to be published by Polygon in a few months, and then, I hope, more. It is a series which may easily become addictive. Allan Gaw | Contributed The stories are set between the two World Wars, though there are also flashbacks to Cuthbert's experiences in the trenches between 1916 and 1918. Cuthbert himself, a tall commanding figure, a repressed homosexual with a fetish for highly polished black boots, is a splendid figure, highly intelligent, devoted to the reading of Latin verse, an outstanding pathologist, scrupulous but also awkward. He is attached to Scotland Yard, though policemen find him at first an awkward customer. He is that rarity in modern fiction, an honourable man. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He is served in his bachelor apartment by a Belgian lady, Madame Smith, her English husband long vanished. She is devoted to Cuthbert and an excellent cook. The taciturn, sometimes abrupt Cuthbert has won the respect of Scotland Yard, after some initial hesitation, and the admiration of his assistants, but he is not an easy man, though an admirably polite one, this no doubt the consequence of his Edinburgh upbringing. Shy and taciturn, he remains enigmatic. I should say he is the most engaging hero of crime fiction I have come upon recently, though the detailed accounts of his professional work are beyond me and sometimes tiresomely so. No doubt readers better versed in the subject will find the descriptions of his work fascinating. The first of the two novels reviewed here, The Moon's More Feeble Fire, is, though enjoyable, the weakest of the three published so far. It begins, as too many crime novels do - too many real life crimes also, I suppose - with the murder of three prostitutes in Soho. None is a drug addict, but Cuthbert finds identical marks of a needle on each body. His investigation carries him into an into an exploration of drug addiction among the London upper classes. This is well done, but has been too often done to offer novelty, though Cuthbert is a sufficiently fascinating character to carry the story along. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To The Shades Descend is much more satisfying, the best of the books in the sequence so far. It is set in Glasgow where Cuthbert has been invited to the university, perhaps to succeed the elderly Dr Glaister as Head of the Department. It is immediately clear that he is not welcome - he is, after all, an Edinburgh man, and Glaister is already fixing for his own son to succeed him. Anyway, Cuthbert knows next to nothing about Glasgow (though he admires Central Station) and is about to return to London when he is instructed by the government to take over the investigation of a hideous atroctity. A bomb has exploded at a political rally and the prospective candidate for Sir Oswald Mosley's New Party has been murdered. Fascism, it seems, has hit the city and Glasgow Jews are suspects. Here, I think, Gaw takes some liberty with history, for in February 1931 Mosley was not yet a Fascist and his New Party was founded after he had left the Labour Government, when his Keynesian plan for dealing with the Depression was rejected by the Cabinet. The New Party initially attracted some serious politicians - Harold Macmillan nearly joined it - and it was only when it flopped at that year's General Election that Mosley embraced the Fascist idea. Still, I think the liberty justified and in the novel it is not surprising that suspicion for the murder is directed at Glasgow's small Jewish community. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The forensic examination of the bombing is grippingly done - even for me - but better still are the sometimes awkward relations of Cuthbert with the Glasgow police, most of whom at first view this interloper with suspicion and resentment. The way in which Cuthbert gradually wins the respect and confidence of some of the junior officers is admirably and credibly (not always the same thing) recounted. Meanwhile, the top brass of the Glasgow force have little to recommend them. In short, this is a splendidly developed novel and the skill with which Gaw develops the narrative is delightful. Jack Cuthbert is surely the most interesting and persuasive crime hero to have appeared for some time. I look forward eagerly to the fourth novel and trust that other ones will follow. The Moon's More Feeble Fire, by Allan Gaw, Polygon, £9.99
