The past, as well as being another country, is a slippery, slippery thing. And there's overlap with words like “history,” “custom and tradition (see Hobwbawm and Ranger’s 1977 edited volume The invention of Tradition.) Where am I going with this? There was an interesting comment on my last blog post about where and when entrenched... Continue Reading →
Of no “wake up” moments, understanding powerlessness and ruts-becoming-tunnels. End of Days Diary #07
. It seems as if there will not be any “wake up” moment, (something I have long told other activists not to expect!). I t seems to me that we have inoculated ourselves and the “boiling frog” thing, although no one ever did boil a frog, does in fact work well enough as a metaphor... Continue Reading →
End of Days Diary #06 – anger
I want to talk about anger (and perhaps self-recrimination, but especially anger). And of course anger is not “allowed.” Anger is somehow a sign that you are “maladjusted”, which is an interesting term in itself - that you should adjust yourself to the indignities, inequities and injustices of the world. And if you display anger,... Continue Reading →
End of days diary #05 – collapse is what?
I had the entirely sensible suggestion that I should be doing Twitter threads as well as blogging. I agree. I'm not sure that I can be bothered or perhaps I am thinking that my work should “speak for itself” and folks should come to me that kind of arrogant presumption and egomania is not unheard... Continue Reading →
Hate letter to a dead denialist. And the Telegraph
So, I was in Stafford today, seeing if I have MRSA ahead of a little light toe cutting. I absolutely did NOT go into the Oxfam bookshop, and I absolutely did NOT buy this book, and anyone who tells my wife is a snitch, and snitches get stitches. And in that book, which I absolutely... Continue Reading →
Of dentists, complicity and coping – End of Days Diary #04
Hello everyone. Yesterday's Doom diary was delayed for a few hours, because I went to the dentist for a checkup (the first since before the pandemic). Fortunately, it didn't turn out like that scene in Marathon Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzw1_2b-I7A It was actually safe. But as I sat there, I thought “I'm glad I'm getting it check-up... Continue Reading →
Of moorhens, growth, football and nuclear war. End of Days diary #03
Welcome or welcome back, day three of what it feels like (to one white over-educated cis-hetero white male) to live in the first bits of the collapse, whether it's 18 weeks, months or even years (not that I am intending to do daily 1k blogs beyond 31 days. Unless someone pays me.) Since yesterday the... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Newsdeath by Ray Connolly
This is a terrific thriller, with a nasty but plausible twist in the tail. I will admit, having grown up on 'The Professionals,' that I have a weakness for "pulp" fiction of Eurotrash terrorists terrorising Western European cities for - seemingly - the hell of it. This, however, is a cut above (or several cuts... Continue Reading →
“Watch your civilisation slide out of view” – End of Days Diary #02 – #powerlessness…
Day 2 of the “Doom Diaries”, also known as the Lehrer diaries, because, as Tom Lehrer said, “If any good songs can come out of world war three, we better start writing now.” First, thanks to people who responded with reading suggestions, encouragement, comments, likes and the like; I will try to keep going. The... Continue Reading →
End of Days diary #01
I pray to the god who doesn’t exist that I can look back 18 months hence, and shake my head at the ‘hysterical’ position I was in back in June 2023. I hope I can join in the jeers of those climate denialists and ‘lukewarmists’ who say with condescension that fear of imminent collapse/apocalypse are... Continue Reading →
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