I chat with my friend Ed on occasions and we talk about how human beings run themselves and he has a phrase, that we are ‘gathering nuts’. The animal instinct to protect oneself and survive by making sure our food sources are protected, that we are warm and can maintain a modicum of health. That…
Category: Quotidial
Christmas in London
I have been invited to spend Christmas in London, near Hampstead, with friends who are more like family than either of my families ever have been. Not at all sure what it will be like, the house is huge and I don’t think I have sat round a table of eleven diners since I was…
Everyone Wants A Hero
or to be one. The myths surrounding heroics nearly always have same things in common – whoever the person is or people are – there has to be a conflict. Whether born of the gods or chosen because of some special personality trait, a war or a battle against a terrible foe makes one a…
Which 30%?
Sounds quite grand. A lot of countries coming together to protect 30% of the planet for wildlife to stop extinctions and preserve biodiversity. But with companies wanting to plunder the Artic and governments always ready to grant money-making schemes the question is which 30% and why only 30%? Does the science tell us where to…
Guns
It is not what we do with what we create, but what others do. They have now free templates online to make and load 3d printable runs. The hobbyists who make them are having fun, making strange and ornate weapons and meeting to shoot on ranges. But the guns are obviously untraceable and can kill….
No Earnings
I am tired for the poor being made to pay for the absurd decisions of the powerful when things go wrong. I am tired for the powerful making laws that allow them to not pay taxes by putting money into tax havens and then turn around to the poor and say ‘I didn’t break any…
London Homeless
I heard on the radio the history of homeless people sleeping outdoors in the richest parts of the city. The theory being that because of the lighting and p9olicing it is considered a safe area. Homes people think it is because rich people may give them more when they beg. In my experience rich people…
Movie Premiere
I was invited to see the first screening of Nowhere, a film by an American writer based on his time in Cornwall. I met many of the cast and crew and was impressed by the engaging story and the way in which these professionals had come together to create Tim’s first movie, screened at a…
The Prison of Hegemony
We are not ruling. We do not elect people to positions of power who are able to do anything for the prison we are in from thousands of years of creating ever more sophisticated chains of money to author our day-to-day lives. We elect bankers, nothing more, and the ops we are offered to placate…
Community
I walked up to the old container next to the shed in the field and found one of the stop-end plastic valves had come away in the cold and water was gushing out. As this is our spring water I went to my neighbour and within fifteen minutes we had a new valve in place….