A Republican idiot (even by their standards) has just won his second term as President. He has big and radical plans and the opposition is fragmented, disoriented. But then along comes an event - one that could and should have been foreseen and prepared for - and the President's visibly and undeniably terrible response takes... Continue Reading →
The (jaco)binfire that is the “left” – aka “extortation” (#ShoddyNeologism#094)
Climate change is bad, but for now I can cope (no kids, no expectations, no flooding where I am). Fascism is bad, but for now I can cope, because it is at least another six months until Starmer and Cooper extend the proscription to include the words "genocide" and "Palestine." Technofeudalsim is bad, but for... Continue Reading →
The real deal – votes, jobs and demopatriarchy
When the Great Barrier Reef of Australia wasn’t obviously dead - 10 to 15 years ago - there were fierce battles between various factions of Queensland (and global) business sectors over what needed to happen. The mining industry, under scrutiny not just for the emissions from all the coal burnt but also the danger posed... Continue Reading →
Skin in the game – a tattoo of the Keeling Curve
Today I got a tattoo. Mrs Hudson (not her real name, or title, in fact) has plenty - crows, beetles, angels of the apocalypse etc. Me? When my turn came, I went for a Keeling Curve. The lovely and steady-handed tattooist I went to (Deviant Ink, in Stone, Staffordshire) knew exactly what it was, and... Continue Reading →
Spirals of silence, the BBC’s real role and… Billy Joel.
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 →
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 →
Everybody knows (or chooses not to). On climate denial, Trump’s tariffs and what links them…
Another slapdash post (fixing a transcript of a great interview, but there's only so much you can do before you get, er, slapdash). As per that song by Leonard Cohen "everybody knows" - that we're heading for 3 or 4 degrees. That's been clear to numerate people with even a cursory understanding of how the... Continue Reading →
Degraded infrastructure of dissent – four examples
Well, it's not looking good for our species, is it? (And not so hot for most of the other species we 'share' this planet with - those microbes that eat sulphur in the deep ocean might make it through unscathed, but as for the rest of it...). Here I am going to bash out -... Continue Reading →
In the Kingdom of the Biters, the …. thick-skinned? are king?
Holy cow this is a must-read. The thing about the Trump regime(s) is that allows people to express their worst impulses. It gives permission to the atavism, the id, the sadism. And, as per the article, it allows deeply inadequate people to wield power (or, rather, strength) and get vengeance for the perceived (and actual)... Continue Reading →
Timing is everything – of spine-eels, climate change and having no idea what you are into
There's a scene near the beginning of the third (and best?) Bourne film. Bourne (Matt Damon) is meeting a journo (Paddy Considine) at Waterloo, with men with bad intentions all around. Considine is asking questions and Bourne says "you have no idea what you are into here." Which turns out to be rather - and... Continue Reading →
marchudson.net 