There is a Doctor Who "monster" called "The Silence". It was a religious order whose " existence is a secret because anyone who sees them immediately forgets about them after looking away, but retains suggestions made to them by the Silence " And it seems to be hard at work at the BBC. Check this report... Continue Reading →
Letter in New Internationalist about movement-building and (lack of) learning… #emotacycle #smugosphere
An edited version of the letter I sent to New internationalist has appeared in the latest issue. I've put the stuff they edited out in bold... I opened the latest issue, with its teasing headline "How We Stop Big Oil" with a sense of trepidation and weariness. I feared it would follow a format I've... Continue Reading →
Roe v Wade and “worse than Gilead” – punishing women for having tasted freedom
Presumably (I am not an historian of the period) when an escaped slave was recaptured they were punished publicly in horrific ways, with the intention of sending a message to anyone else who was contemplating a dash for freedom. Because, you know, you want to break their spirits, their minds... This comes to mind from... Continue Reading →
Letter in the FT on prolonged institutional resistance to #ClimateAction
One last November and now another... Here's what I sent - they edited it lightly. Pilita Clark writes with her customary verve and clarity on the dangers ahead from climate inaction and special pleading by the corporate sector ("Magical thinking on fossil fuels endangers safety, FT Weekend, April 30). Four pages earlier, you reported resolutions demanding... Continue Reading →
“This once again illustrates coal’s value as a transition fuel.” #IShitYouNot #WeAreDoomed
For those of you who aren't up with the lingo: When we burn fossil Fuels (coal, oil and gas) to get energy, we release carbon dioxide. This is bad because it adds to the amount of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere and more carbon dioxide traps more heat, which melts ice caps, causes droughts... Continue Reading →
Counter-movement techniques – the snitch jacket… #Zersetzung
There are dozens upon dozens of ways to crack a movement. One of the more inventive ones is the snitch jacket - to make it seem like someone who is NOT an agent/asset/informer/source actually is. And given that it is very difficult (impossible!) to prove that you are NOT an agent/asset/informer/source, well... This from a... Continue Reading →
Samuel Johnson – what have ye done? (inspired by reading @OliverBurkeman book “4000 Weeks”)
Reading a borrowed copy of Oliver Burkeman's "Four Thousand Weeks" (self-help/philosophy with added Heidegger and also good stuff), I am thinking of Samuel Johnson's wonderful essay "What Have Ye Done?" If you haven't read it already, you're in for a treat. If you have read it, read it again - there's some serious wisdom in... Continue Reading →
Lead letter in the FT!! #NotHumbleBrag
I have had a couple (maybe three?) letters in the pink 'un over the years. But never the lead letter. Is it about COP26? Is it about industrial decarbonisation and the politics thereof? Is it heck. It's about my misspent youth reading in excess... And death. Always with the death... Is "macabre Buddhist propaganda" a... Continue Reading →
TIS & MLP – “Towards an integrated framework”
So, focusing my next batch of academic reading around the Technological Innovation Systems concept. If you have other things on this, besides these seven, you think I should read, lemme know. First up Markard J. and Truffer, B. 2008. Technological innovation systems and the multi-level perspective: Towards an integrated framework. Research Policy 37 596–615 Lots... Continue Reading →
TISWAS always the sociotechnical transitions framework I should have gotten to grips with. #BetterLate and all that… #IndustrialDecarbonisation
So, I am, as per my last post, less ignorant about my ignorance. As far as I can see, through a glass darkly and all that... And I think that the most important bit of ignorance that I should do something about in the short-term, is on Technological Innovation Systems (see handy wikipedia entry here).... Continue Reading →