I won't mention the name of it, but I just listened to an unusually vacuous podcast by Important And Serious People. No gory details, but this - in the discussion of whether 1.5 degrees target was dead, they didn't even have the wherewithal to look at the history of it as a target (let alone... Continue Reading →
Wilfred Bion, psychoanalyst, and the current Conservative meltdown
You know when you properly encounter a new idea and then you "see" its applications everywhere (and you overuse it/misuse it). To riff on a good saying - "when you've got a new shiny hammer that feels good, every problem looks like a nail" (1). Well, that's me and Wilfred Bion's idea of the work-group... Continue Reading →
On the “slow” motion privatisation of the NHS and feelings of dread
Twice now, once last year and just now, I've had the experience I am sure millions of others are having. You need something done and rather than it being dealt with "in-house" the NHS is farming it out to private companies. All in the name of "efficiency" don't you know. Never mind the senior politicians... Continue Reading →
Of masochism and learning to walk away (or not even go there).
The Wife has told me a million times. The Wife is - as so frustratingly-often is the case - absolutely right. But still I attended a webinar of a group that claims it is doing things differently (I won't go further than that). And the webinar was about a very very important question, around the... Continue Reading →
Two webinars and a podcast – (#UsualRant abt uselessness of most “intellectual” work “for” social movements)
Stop me if you've heard this one before (pro-tip; you have from me, endlessly). People like the sound of their own voices. People who think (or DO) have a lot to say like to say it. They are remarkably incurious about what their audience (the ego-fodder) might know/have to contribute. The hosts of these events... Continue Reading →
Ban the word “we” (also, bragging abt exercise)
Sat on an exercise bike before work this morning. In past had read Financial Timeses and Morning Stars, but that gets in the way of really going for it. So I was listening to a podcast (I like to keep up with new trends). I won't mention the name, but it's a well-respected one, with... Continue Reading →
All the pearl-wringing and hand-clutching about “Labour” abandoning the 28bn. What. Did. You. Expect?
There's acres of coverage about the Labour scrapping of its only quarter-way decent policy (the "Green Prosperity Plan.") The right-wingers are rolling out the "flipflop"/"stand for nothing line" (echoed by sentient lefties too). There's good "what might it mean medium-term?" (nothing good) stuff from the likes of Monbiot and Andy Beckett. And then there's rather a lot... Continue Reading →
The coming months on #climate in the UK
Written at speed, apols for typos etc. Musings on what we may see and "what is to be done" (bracing for impact, mostly?) The situation is one of clusterfuckery, escalating to collective suicide. Keir Starmer, to absolutely nobody's surprise, is ditching the promise to spend £28bn per year on green investment. This promise, made by his... Continue Reading →
Unsayable truths and playing the game
So, Storm Isa is upon us. And BBC Radio 4's 1pm news has some climate adaptation professor on. The announcer asks what needs doing and while the guy alludes to the government not having done stuff in the past, what he doesn't do is come out and say any variation on this: "Look, it's kinda wasting your... Continue Reading →
Letter in Private Eye about CCS…
They edited it down very lightly, just missing the final line "I would get out more, but the weather is so unpredictable at the moment, for reasons that elude me."
marchudson.net 