When the Romans were deep into empire building rampaging through Europe and subjugating the Gauls, the Goths, the Pritons (the original name for the Britons) and others the Chinese had discovered gunpowder and were having great fun at festivals. Had gunpowder travelled to Europe the Romans would have been stropped in their tracks. History is…
Funding the Arts
National governments started giving money to artists in recent history. They replaced to some extent private patrons by becoming a patron themselves, and they give their money with more stri9ngs attached than private patrons ever did and all of those str9ngs are to do with how society sees itself and nothing to do with art…
Immigration
People leave their towns to get work, their countries to find a better standard of life. They leave because they are frightened, because they have been thrown out, because war has made them refugees but no one leaves because they are contented, The global finance system leaves some countries able to provide a better standard…
Anti-Semitism
Because anti-Semites are always pretty open about why the dislike/hate/want to see dead Jewish people. and because they give many answers as to why, people tend to think anti-Semitism is a complex issue. If you travel in the far east you won’t find anti-Semitism in Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Jainism. Sikhism the Bahai or any of…
Watching the Rain at Treknow
If you ever watch the rain Sweep across a great high plain Of damp green fields and bent-backward trees, Where seagulls’ wings are taut with breeze, And gusts of wind cut you in half Near a Cornish cow and her soft calf – Almost blown across a field – Where it seems impossible to build…
Feeding the birds
With my technique of throwing fat balls across the garden to be nearer the field I seem to have encouraged a male pheasant to visit everyday and a female to wander around. The seeds i put out entice magpies, black birds and ravens and the peanuts in their holders mean i have black headed tits,…
How Old is Vanity?
Culture is not for sale yet everywhere it is the playground of the wealthy. Whenever we find old cities we seem to find finer buildings than others and those are usually palaces or temples of some kind. I wonder if they had sports grounds. W know they had training grounds and the Greeks had games…
Figures are Interesting
The Office of National Statistics looked at the GDP of the UK the year before Brexit and surmised that the actual GDP of the country afterwards was 5% lower of £31 thousand million (31 billion for those who count like the Americans) in lost investment and growth within the economy. The fiscal black hole Hunt…
The US Elections
I had a conversation with an American and she was delighted the Democrats kept the Senate. I pointed out that with all that has been said that to European mind seems outrageous (the battle over women’s bodies, the racism, the conspiracy theories politically driven) 49 Republican seats seems an awful lot or ignorant and partisan…
How The Eye Works
It is endlessly fascinating to know few of us see the world the same world, because our eyes pick up differences in shade and colour, see more shadows than others. see more lines than other each other. It is one of the first and most important lessons to learn when viewing ‘works of art’ that…