Welcome to our mediaeval times

I’ll argue that in this early 21st century venality and appalling inequity is again (still) on general display, that institutions are both revered and detested, that pandemics dominate and fundamentally change our world, and that reason seems lost amid a sea of conspiracy theories, despite the best efforts of some authorities. As Julia Hurst and Zoe Laidlaw observed recently, ‘…identity is rooted in history, and so history cannot be escaped.’

Good government

I'm writing a series of books called The big fat NO debates for a young audience (aged 10 - 12). Here is an extract from a debate about what makes a good government [without included art brief details]: Eskify lists 10 great rulers (who governed) in ancient times. If you're interested go to my WordPress … Continue reading Good government →

Greta and the trolls

Isn't it fitting that Greta should hail from a nordic region, more-or-less the homeplace, I think, of trolls and other things nasty, like Ragnarok. What is it that brings them out whenever she gets a post or mention on social media.

Figment of imagination

I once could not imagine that someone human could not respond somehow, at some time or another, to the natural world. Impossible, I would have said. No matter how entrenched in the urban one was, how enmeshed by the artificial, surely the whir of a bird’s wings, the flash of a butterfly’s colour, the shape … Continue reading Figment of imagination →

Review of Tom Strelich’s novel, Dog logic

Dog logic; it makes sense Some stories remind us not to take ourselves too seriously, to curb our hubris; perhaps remind us how invidious we can be. ‘Dog logic’ is dystopian, sort of, a book about a man, Hertell, wounded by the now (wits scrambled, wife left, career in ruins) and out of sorts. He … Continue reading Review of Tom Strelich’s novel, Dog logic →

On the alleged death of homo economicus

If I am to take Nick Hanauer’s[1] advice and kill off homo economicus then what I fear I’ll be left with is – all that someone of a liberal-humanist bent can ask, I suppose – homo impotenticus. A person unpurposed: because I am not alone, because I am not reified individual, because I am part … Continue reading On the alleged death of homo economicus →

Sendak on the artistic process

Interesting take on the artistic process by Maurice Sendak, the author/illustrator of Where the wild things are, among other texts: "This dual apperception [of self as adult and child] does break down occasionally. That usually happens when my work is going badly. I get a sour feeling about books in general and my own in … Continue reading Sendak on the artistic process →

Not a political thing; then again, maybe it is…

Speaking of things climatic should soothe us into the realms of the non political; that of course is not so. I wonder if any of Mr. Trump's people - or the mannikin himself - is aware of NASA's perspective on climate change; just another expert agency one can safely ignore, I guess. I know that our … Continue reading Not a political thing; then again, maybe it is… →