Had a boring if fun day yesterday filing in Charlestown for Beyond Paradise. Watching at the London execs who write these scrips had people putting racing boats out to see stern first. Reminded me of the story I was told when they asked the casting agencies for [people to be the crowd at a fisherman’s…
Category: Quotidial
Caricatures
There is a growing tradition fostered by Facebook and Instagram and other image-rich media outlets, to sum up complex an difficult situations with simplistic images that, if they were in words, would be a falsehood. The one I saw today was of a soldier, presumably Israeli, point his gun directly at a child’s head. In…
Balancing Power
It is a truism that in democracy no one wields power without a vote (leaving aside election fraud for a moment) and in the capitalist system no international conglomerate gets to be such without us all buying their goods. The theorist tell us that we all give a little of our power away to be…
TGhe Horns of War
On April 16th 1939 one of the preserved battle horns of Tutankhamun was broadcast being blown on BBC radio. The story goes there were three such horns, made of wood, silver and gold and when they opened the tomb Carter was so thrilled to see everything he just picked up the wooden one and blew…
Political Kickbacks
The last person we know of to leave political power no richer than when he came into his office was, as far as I know, Thomas More. The man who gave back gifts when he realised they were not gifts but bribes. Famously written about by Robert Bolt in a Man for All Seasons Henry…
Spinoza
I was browsing Blackwell’s bookshop when I was student (one of many times) and found a small paperback volume An Introduction to Spinoza by Stuart Hampshire. I had been wondering why Spinoza was not on the history of philosophy syllabus so I bought it and read it in one sitting. I certainly had my answer…
Cultures Lost
Culture – as language – as modes and mores and ways of thinking and even as laws – changes. Pronunciation and word meanings change. Clothes change. and as these things change so the people change. There is no Elizabethan who would recognise the English of today and no Edwardian who would not be constantly second-guessing…
I Have My Suspicions
After the first attempt on his life Trump received a huge well of support to such an extent Democrat friends of mine said ‘oh well, he’s going to win now.’ I won’t comment directly on anyone who votes out of sympathy for a man who was shot at when considering the political ramifications of their…
The slow Boil To War
In 1922 the people who watched the fizzled revolt of the Nazi party in Munich shrugged and went about their business. In the early 1930s when the British fascists marched in London the dockers left their work and there were street fights with them. In the late 20s when Mein Kampf came out a baroness…
Reading and Believing
When have you ever read anything? Do you just believe what people tell you? I was with someone recently and was talking about political matters in our society and they said, ‘how do you know all this? Do you read a lot?’ I am not someone to criticise strata of society about which I know…