These Sporting Times

The special theme of this issue of Soundings is sport - which plays an important role in shaping the ways in which we think about ourselves, for our sense of gender, class and national identity.

The themes addressed in this issue include identifications and identity; legal and political intervention in sport; the changing role of business in sport; and the new developments in communications technologies which have both facilitated sport and changed its meaning.

Sports looked at include soccer, women's kick-boxing, cricket, hunting, athletics and body-building.

As well as the themed section, special feature articles include:Letter from Turkey by Fred Halliday; New Left and New Labour: Modernisation or a New Modernity by Geoff Andrews; Confronting Breast Cancer: Marvea's Story, a photo essay by Cherron Lee Johnson; and The Art of Life by Jonathan Rutherford; plus Birmingham, Kosovo, poems, reviews.