the world wide web was conceived as a resource for information and having been created by scientists the idea that false information should be shared was not even in their minds. Mistaken data that needed to be corrected by others but the inspiration was it would become an international resource even more important than libraries…
Invasion
When Russia invaded Ukraine and I said to my friends that we were all going ti tested now. At the time I thought of the normal course of wars but I, along with the rest of the world, was amazed at the strength of the Ukrainians. It reminded me of Churchill telling the USA ‘give…
Books it is
The last few weeks as part of the probate process and gathering the assets of a friends, I have been tasked with moving his library to a safer place, out of the damp and ready to be put into some kind of order. He was an artist and editor working from the early 1960s through…
Lost Not Lost
Yesterday evening the dog I am looking after chased after a cat down the lane. I called him back and he appeared and so I thought he was safe and turned my back. Ten minutes later I began to wonder where he was and whistled and called. Nothing. So, torch in hand I walked down…
We are at War
Culture has been under attack for decades from the money-men wanting to make art a part of their investments and not caring a damn about the place of the visual experience and enjoyment of skill and vision among the general population. They have run rough-shod over peoples’ image of themselves as a country and in…
Animal or No?
The entire history of the human race as far as we know of it, is a continual battle between our animal selves and the growing intellectual might of our brains. There was never an advantage in going to war but our animal selves wanted land, conquest, wealth; all of which add to personal power. Personal…
Almost Right
I listen to the men and women around the world hitting out against welfare state and free health care, espousing the glories of fighting for the dollar in your pocket and never giving a damn about the poor and oppressed, and how this money world is tying every country to its boots and I think:…
Nazi Jihadi
I heard a podcast today condemning the west for its moral vacuity in not making Jihad as unacceptable as Nazism. The argument seemed to be we had an international moral code espoused in the Nuremberg Trials which is wholly lacking when dealing with murderous Jihadis. The Nuremberg Trials were not trials about war. Not actually…
The World Turns
I don’t like John Major. He spent a significant part of the 1980s cosying up yo Margaret Thatcher and the decisions he made harmed a great many poor people as she paved the way for the crash of 2008 and the rise of the fascists in Europe. But today, as an old man, he spoke…
I used to enjoy
Any Questions, a radio 4 programme that had four panellists answer questions from the public. They toured the UK coming from a different place each week and had as well as politicians, local personalities on the panels. Then Jonathan Dimbleby took over as the chair and started by speaking for ten minutes and taking away…