Very soon after the Labour Group cast off, so did a slightly smaller Tory group and the two groups combined to form what may become a new political party. Tories left behind were more sorrowful than critical, at least in front of the microphones. By contrast, notable Labour figures left behind carried on snarling, shrieking and threatening.… continue reading
Tag future shock
He Speaks of the Rapidity of Change
… Just Words
Forced to witness and live, day after day, this nation’s fraught and inept and demented progress towards Brexit – the unforgiveable false step, waste and wanton irrelevance of it, the tedium, obsessive delinquency, delusion, shame, the sheer disgraceful wrong and disaster of it – I retreat into words, not just for some slight relief, but in case they provide guidance… continue reading
The History of the United Kingdom
Click here for a summary of this piece, consisting of just over 700 words. Are You Sitting Comfortably ? The history of the United Kingdom (whose every seam is under terrible stretch and strain just now) continues so fast, so scattered, so hurt, so incoherent, so unguided and ill-advised, that it is hard to keep up, hard to make sense… continue reading
The Flotsam of Frantic Dreams
We don’t know any more where our lives belong or even where to hide. The walls of home hold nothing up or out and the door hangs slack on the hinge. Where have our lives gone ? I consult the news and the world ended several days ago. Today it’s ending all over again. Where have… continue reading
A Drawing of Conclusions
It is surely still natural to respect a conclusion that is reached through cogent argument. Each stage of the argument leads to the next stage, like a series of links in a chain. The conclusion is given its authority, its right to be heard and accepted, by the strength of the links that have led to it. But look at… continue reading
The Brain’s a Tunnel
Owl sculpture by Dorothy Love… continue reading
Naming the Beast of the Year
This beast has our country’s contours written all over it. It has leapt from out of the ruins of the city, those hollow squares, and from the great labrynth below ground where the thread got tangled, and from the wi-fi and the wires through which we do not speak but intone like digital toys or just snarl, just howl.… continue reading
Can Liberal Democracy Survive our Tumult ?
Can liberal democracy survive our tumultuous, bewildering, frightening, dangerous times ? Can it surmount them ? Can it contain and even direct the flailing social forces at work towards positive solutions, a viable human future ? As things stand, it seems not to be coping at all. It is surely in great danger of allowing and even encouraging the irresponsible… continue reading
Where to Look for Answers ?
Post Brexit, despair floods in, layer by layer ; the lamentable result itself, how it was arrived at, and the background from which the mayhem welled up, now cascading all over us. Any space anywhere for hope ? In search of hope, where might we expect to look ? To the steppe from whence the barbarian horse are advancing greedily… continue reading