On a bit of a weather/climate-disaster novels kick at the moment ("The Sixth Winter" by Orgill and Gribbin). The Weather War is one I bought a while back and it just sat on the shelf. In short - it's fun, but nothing you need to struggle to find and read, 'less you're as strange as... Continue Reading →
A man washes up on a Mediterranean beach, with no memory of who he is. The past he does not have in his head is getting in the way of his future - men with guns menacing him, beautiful women he must learn to trust - or fear. Can he learn how to use his... Continue Reading →
Those who are trying to do something about the climate crisis are used to being lied about, smeared and sneered at. Some of those doing the lying/smearing/sneering are defending their own (short-term) economic and political positions (politicians, pundits and other poltroons)A larger number of people are terrified, but feel powerless (and, frankly - in the... Continue Reading →
This slender gem is one I shall have to come back to again, I think. The narrator meets the titular Utz - a fascinating MittelEuropean figure just the once, but is able to piece together the before and the after (the first scene tells of Utz's funeral). Its set mostly in Prague, from the 50s... Continue Reading →
So the obvious question is why aren't tens of thousands of people involved in the "Just Stop Oil" actions? There are loads of different answers to this question, that will convince different people. I don't think it is as simple as "people think climate change isn't a big deal" or "people don't like to Get... Continue Reading →
The latest IPCC report (working group 3 - the "what to do" one) has sunk without trace - too much else going on, it's an old story, there's no new news. Here's the front page of the Grauniad website this morning- And this, after one of their journos, Fiona Harvey, had worried publicly that the... Continue Reading →
This is a (light) expansion of this Twitter thread, about an article on the Guardian website by one of their environment reporters, Fiona Harvey. Ms Harvey is anticipating (plausibly - tomorrow we shall see if she is right) that the latest Working Group 3 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will sink without... Continue Reading →
I saw this below on the Grauniad website today and tweeted that 2022 is gonna be hella interesting. I have MUCH else to be getting on with (Sarah, if you're reading this I have got about 3/4 of the crap out of the attic). But I want to throw an initial schema and a set... Continue Reading →
is that we learn nothing from history. That's not mine, btw - I filched it from Georgie Hegel. Am thinking at the moment about one of my favourite themes - how little we (e.g. me) learn from our mistakes, how resistant we (e.g. me) can be to robust and would-be-if-we-took-it helpful feedback (whether that is... Continue Reading →
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 →
