While reading Robert Reich's SAVING CAPITALISM Have discovered over recent months and via The Guardian and other publications, one Robert Reich. Reich is 'an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator' who 'worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in the … Continue reading Do I want to save capitalism?
Tag: History
On reading Horse by Geraldine Brooks
The cover of the book I read Click here to read my Historiographer site post.
Reading Annie Ernaux’s ‘The Years’
She's just won the Nobel (October 2022) for Literature so I've seen her name (for the first time too - so much happens in the world and no-one, no-one, can know even a smidgeon of it all) bandied about recently. So I leap this morning from The Guardian page to a note from Booker Prizes … Continue reading Reading Annie Ernaux’s ‘The Years’
Cawnpore dogs
This anecdote was found in the papers of Mrs Chandrapur Gohshe (deceased 2007), great granddaughter of the writer, Mrs Rani Bheikeji Cama, who had been at Kanpur in 1857. This is what I know of battles and war; that there is no order, no logic, no sense. It is fear and panic and hasty decisions … Continue reading Cawnpore dogs
Extract from TWO ROADS
A novel and novella Two roads is a novella (Pulpit Rock) and short novel (Malleable) of ~85,000 words. The extract below comes from the novel, Malleable. It deals with... Front cover ...And Norman has wondered, would I have the strength and will to walk with those black protesters? Would I face rotten eggs and muck … Continue reading Extract from TWO ROADS
Extract from: The Big Fat YES Debate[s]
Given the times and events it seems worth popping an extract in from my non-fiction book for upper primary students. War Hmmnn? YES to ‘that the world would be better if we only had peace’ Who'd have thought there would be people who say NO to peace? From a debating point of view, it’s certainly … Continue reading Extract from: The Big Fat YES Debate[s]
The reader as passenger
I am reading Dan O’Brien’s excellent The Contract Surgeon and making the odd note as I go along. Not in the book, I should add (it is not mine) but in a notepad. On page 23 this rather excellent little cameo is made by a female character – ‘an old woman’ who is tending a … Continue reading The reader as passenger
An alternative truth
The opening of a novella about this pandemic; just set somewhere else entirely.In a world with alternative truths what we would perhaps prefer is an alternative world on which to trial them. Part 1 - Beginnings December 13 Nahuw, Anihc Moon is about to place an Uggo piece into what he hopes will be a … Continue reading An alternative truth
Foreword from a draft non fiction text
The fossil fooled I began to write this book on the first of January 2020, hoping this will be a year and decade of better vision than we have shown so far (forgive the pun). As I write, much of Australia burns. This fire season began in August 2019, some say July. The fires are … Continue reading Foreword from a draft non fiction text
Are we locked in a dance to the death (economically anyway) with fossil fuels
factors other than the purely economic must be taken into account. The problem with our purely economic thinking is that it is tainted with neoliberalist assumptions about worth. Humans, certainly all the ones in the first world, have been programmed to accept the notion that economic growth, most particularly at the personal level, is essential. To challenge this paradigm is to adopt the denialist annoying Greta Thunberg ‘how dare you’ stance. But in fact what we do need to do - if you factor anything other than pure Homo economicus thinking - is to do away with stuff. Perhaps take a significant dip in our GDP rich life. Give up some goods, some cargo, some economic cudos. Will we be poorer for it? Will our health go into decline? Will our world become much smaller? Perhaps we’ll travel less, the carbon load of flying is prohibitive. But will we be poorer? Will our air and waterways be cleaner? Will some of the wilderness be restored? Will we rediscover community? I don’t know, but I don’t think we can continue with business as usual. Because business isn’t (despite what they tell us) everything. We can choose to remain fossil fooled or we can choose not to be.