Always with the stunt-headlining. Oi vey. So, this morning the Grauniad ran a piece based on some academic research about how climate action is more popular than most people think, with everyone underestimating other people's "support" for climate action. The scare quotes are there because, you know, if people gave that much of a damn,... Continue Reading →
Juggling: “You’re improving”
The patch of green I juggle on is at the top of a t-junction on a relatively narrow and busy street. So, I am seen. It may be me being a narcissist (but an actual narcissist - as opposed to someone struggling with neurotic self-obsession - would not like to be seen failing so often:... Continue Reading →
“Professional amateurism” as authenticity (once you can fake that, you’ve got it made…)
This, from chapter 3 (on the 2019 election in the UK) of "Johnson at 10" by Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell, leapt out at me Brooks, like Levido, was an alumnus of [Lynton] Crosby’s consultancy and had worked with him on the 2019 Australian campaign. Attempting to replicate their antipodean successes too would be left-field... Continue Reading →
Juggling: Against the Wind….
A few years ago, in a quarantine hotel in Adelaide, I "mastered" the basics of three ball juggling. It took me longer than it might have, if I had thought things through, been more methodical (story of my life) and had a tutor. Ho hum. At various points since I've gone through bursts of enthusiasm... Continue Reading →
Podcast review (cat-belling) and a vain plea for decent podcast tips
I'm not going to mention the name of it, but it's a climate-y one which has some really quite good guests. I listened to a couple a while back and was .. underwhelmed. I've dipped my toe in again and I've got (1) to say… I'm still really underwhelmed. The guests are smart. The host... Continue Reading →
We live drenched and waterboarded by propaganda – two (trivial) examples
There is that quote by Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper social scientist about three big developments in the twentieth century being - well, let me google that for me. "The 20th century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance. The growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of... Continue Reading →
Essential Poem- “Against Entropy” by John M. Ford
via here The worm drives helically through the woodAnd does not know the dust left in the boreOnce made the table integral and good;And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;The names of lovers, light of other daysPerhaps you will not miss them.... Continue Reading →
Taylor Swift, cathexis, Zizek and (oof) black boxes
I came to the podcast Ordinary Unhappiness very recently while on a Wilfred Bion binge (blog post abt that stuck in development hell). The shtick seems to be that three very well-informed-on-psychoanalysis young(ish) East Coast Americans (two seem married, to each other I mean) will have a topic (Bion and groups, the 1967 film The... Continue Reading →
Who stands for an anthem? Australia from the 1970s to the 2020s
I remember going to sporting events (athletics meets, cricket) in the 1980s in a sleepy country town in South Australia (Adelaide, its capital). Most of the time no anthem would be played - everyone I knew (obvs not a random sample) regarded Advance Australia Fair with either 'no opinion' or some derision. Plodding, vacuous, nowhere... Continue Reading →
Thomas Hardy vs Christianity, via Joseph Brodsky
So, I have memorised that Phil Larkin poem "This be the verse." Next up, this little beauty by Tom Hardy. " Peace upon earth!" was said. We sing it,And pay a million priests to bring it.After two thousand years of massWe've got as far as poison-gas. Hat tip to the late great Joe Brodsky, whose... Continue Reading →
