I just had a letter in the FT, about John Carpenter's "Starman". It made me realise there is a film season to be done about sci-fi films and novels about how "we" appear to intrstellar visitors. Novelistically you could go for War of the Worlds, where (as HG Wells says the Martians are merely doing... Continue Reading →
Is that it? Really? On the Vacuity of Most Podcasts
No names, but this: On my two hour pre-work walk along the canal tow-path to feed moorhens/ducks/swans/all-the-birds-in-the-hedges I listened to four whole podcasts. One was about carbon capture and storage and it was okay I guess, but really didn't drill down (see what I did there) into the history of it all, or talk about... Continue Reading →
On really thinking about how power works on bodies, and the need for seeing your privilege
Someone my age just went to Dignitas, the assisted dying place in Switzerland. It concentrates the mind, of course. She had stage 4 bowel cancer and things were about to get seriously unpleasant. There's an interview with her in the Guardian, conducted the night before she did the deed. Asked about the dangers of people... Continue Reading →
Of the Horizon scandal, #climate doom and the Professional Managerial Class… (and what is to be done).
We're doomed. It’s partly the fault of the staggeringly successful campaigns of doubt and denial over the last thirty five years, that are still happening - the fossil fuel propaganda campaigns like the one just starting up (Noor, 2024). Those campaigns stopped us taking action that would have delayed the onset of the ferocious warming... Continue Reading →
The Buddha, the Big Issue and the emotional poverty problem
There's the old Buddhist line about two goldfish swimming around and one saying to the other "how's the water?" and the other saying back "what do you mean, 'water'?" I think about that a lot, but that doesn't necessarily mean I am any better - day-to-day - at seeing/tasting/feeling the water. So it goes. Meanwhile,... Continue Reading →
Hating nature, as the Anthropocene clears its throat…
Someone (a male, or group of males, I am willing to bet big bucks) has chainsawed the tree at the Sycamore gap. See tweet here. There will be an outpouring of revulsion and bewilderment at such a wanton act of vandalism. Here's my two cents. Ever since the pagans started losing to the monotheists, all... Continue Reading →
Weak as a kitten, and on the radio…
Two quick notes. First: I've been building up muscle bulk (lats, pecs, upper traps, rhomboids etc) at the gym and also getting back into long walks along the canal towpath wearing a weighted jacket (only 10kg, but it's a start). And wanting to shift lard again. So, "back to rowing, how hard can it be?"... Continue Reading →
The Voice, Marriage Equality and Brexit – a rant
On October 14th there's a referendum taking place in Australia. It's about whether to amend the Constitution and create an advisory group that will be a voice/Voice for indigenous Australians to the parliament. Other countries have them and the sky hasn't fallen. In a sensible world, it would be utterly uncontroversial. But... well.... So, here's... Continue Reading →
Compassion for deniers? I suppose so, especially the breeders
For a long long time - for various reasons - I would get an autonomic response when called upon (by others or myself) to say the simple words "I was wrong" and offer a sincere apology (i.e. not one couched with evasions, so-called 'explanations' and whatabout-eries.) Heart rate up, skin crawling, shortness of breath, etc.... Continue Reading →
Perversity, Futility and Jeopardy – the watchwords of delay.
According to the perversity thesis, any purposive action to improve some feature of the political, social, or economic order only serves to exacerbate the condition one wishes to remedy (compare: Unintended consequences). The futility thesis holds that attempts at social transformation will be unavailing, that they will simply fail to "make a dent." Finally, the jeopardy thesis argues that the cost... Continue Reading →
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