Everyone gets fat and old, says someone fat and old, if they're lucky. I just saw a juvenile moorhen do proper flying - like a proper bird. (I was feeding its mum or dad, and it wanted in on the action). Distance, style, the works. Won't be able to do that this time next year,... Continue Reading →
Moorhens, Disney and Hyenas
[Sobs] My illusions shattered. I've just seen two moorhens having a go at each other over food They were next to the towpath, on the grass. (yes, crappy photo - cameraphone, poor light etc) I was able to throw them food and not feed the ducks. [Ducks are, in my opinion, the humans of the... Continue Reading →
Metaphors for thinking about power: the tug of war
You can come up with all the elaborate diagrams and schema you like for thinking and talking about power. They'll definitely be read by reviewers one and two (it is always reviewer two, innit?). And once it's published in some paywalled journal it will be read by, ooh, a dozen or so other people. World-changing.... Continue Reading →
Gotta learn to think in wheels, not lines…
Found this in my downloads folder. I liked it at the time and I like it now. It makes me think of how bad I am at thinking in wheels/spokes rather than lines. We need to think in wheels and "pies" and so on. The planetary limits dashboard people do a decent job, but there... Continue Reading →
Dancing around the issue – of metaphors of hope(lessness)
We think in metaphors (or I do and people around me seem to), but those metaphors can take us to bad places and (therefore) need to be interrogated, and challenged. So, as the old study showed, if you frame crime as evilness you get one lot of policy proposals being popular, if you frame it... Continue Reading →
Taste of bitter Ashes – what cricket can tell us about climate change
As an Australian, it kinda sorta gives me a small amount of pleasure to write the following sentence “England lost the Ashes in a record time of 12 days.” To those in the know, these are (mildly) surprising words. To normal people (i.e. not “cricket tragics”) they will ask two pertinent questions - “what are... Continue Reading →
Metaphors we think with – of orchards, pies, eating and energy
Somewhere along the line I learnt that metaphors are very powerful things, in shaping/directing/preventing thought. So a for instance – if you frame a crime as a virus or crime as beast, it leads people to support different sets of responses. Autocrats and demagogues know this, instinctively, of course, and those of us who think... Continue Reading →