This, from chapter 3 (on the 2019 election in the UK) of "Johnson at 10" by Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell, leapt out at me Brooks, like Levido, was an alumnus of [Lynton] Crosby’s consultancy and had worked with him on the 2019 Australian campaign. Attempting to replicate their antipodean successes too would be left-field... Continue Reading →
Juggling: Against the Wind….
A few years ago, in a quarantine hotel in Adelaide, I "mastered" the basics of three ball juggling. It took me longer than it might have, if I had thought things through, been more methodical (story of my life) and had a tutor. Ho hum. At various points since I've gone through bursts of enthusiasm... Continue Reading →
Podcast review (cat-belling) and a vain plea for decent podcast tips
I'm not going to mention the name of it, but it's a climate-y one which has some really quite good guests. I listened to a couple a while back and was .. underwhelmed. I've dipped my toe in again and I've got (1) to say… I'm still really underwhelmed. The guests are smart. The host... Continue Reading →
We live drenched and waterboarded by propaganda – two (trivial) examples
There is that quote by Alex Carey, the Australian wicketkeeper social scientist about three big developments in the twentieth century being - well, let me google that for me. "The 20th century has been characterised by three developments of great political importance. The growth of democracy; the growth of corporate power; and the growth of... Continue Reading →
Essential Poem- “Against Entropy” by John M. Ford
via here The worm drives helically through the woodAnd does not know the dust left in the boreOnce made the table integral and good;And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;The names of lovers, light of other daysPerhaps you will not miss them.... Continue Reading →
Taylor Swift, cathexis, Zizek and (oof) black boxes
I came to the podcast Ordinary Unhappiness very recently while on a Wilfred Bion binge (blog post abt that stuck in development hell). The shtick seems to be that three very well-informed-on-psychoanalysis young(ish) East Coast Americans (two seem married, to each other I mean) will have a topic (Bion and groups, the 1967 film The... Continue Reading →
Who stands for an anthem? Australia from the 1970s to the 2020s
I remember going to sporting events (athletics meets, cricket) in the 1980s in a sleepy country town in South Australia (Adelaide, its capital). Most of the time no anthem would be played - everyone I knew (obvs not a random sample) regarded Advance Australia Fair with either 'no opinion' or some derision. Plodding, vacuous, nowhere... 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 →
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