If we think of changing the world, and how big the changes which are needed are, it feels like a huge undertaking. It feels impossible: from where we are now, how could we possibly get there? I often feel this, as I think so many of us do. However: there is one thing that makes […]
‘Might is Right’ is the description of power as fact, and that power as fact triumphs over justice and what might actually be Right. It’s the brutal reality of power, and sometimes also the normative justifications that attempt to legitimise and perpetuate such a situation. An easy example is the school bully who beats up […]
The Government recently published their Covid ‘roadmap’ setting out what their plan for lifting restrictions over the coming months. I thought I’d write this blog post as a way of thinking through how I think and feel about it, partly to get them out of my head. If you want to live in sunny optimism, […]
In recent political events, we’ve seen demands for the removal of the Prime Minister’s top advisor and chief of staff, Dominic Cummings, as well as open speculation that Matt Hancock could be made to be the fall guy for the Government’s failings in dealing with coronavirus. But there’s another possibility: that Boris Johnson himself gets […]
Solidarity with all oppressed people and with everyone involved in the struggle to realise a better world. ** I have a lot of emotions in me, as I write this. I expect lots of us do at the moment – the virus situation; the latest wave of racial justice struggles, the black lives matter protests; […]
In summer 2019, leftie punk rock band The King Blues released 38 Minutes. It’s a concept album about a false missile warning in Hawaii, when an emergency text was sent to everyone in warning them to seek shelter, that ‘THIS IS NOT A DRILL’, exploring how people react when they think they’re about to die. […]
I recently realised that it’s still about two strategies. Though it’s something I knew at the start of the crisis, I had forgotten it recently, but in discussion of ‘exit strategies’ and hearing an expert talk about coming out of lockdown I was reminded that there are, still, two different strategies available. I wrote this […]
I recently realised that it’s still about two strategies. Though it’s something I knew at the start of the crisis, I had forgotten it recently, but in discussion of ‘exit strategies’ and hearing an expert talk about coming out of lockdown I was reminded that there are, still, two different strategies available. I wrote this […]
These are lyrics to the song “End Credits” by The King Blues, which I couldn’t find elsewhere online. I wrote them out and put them on this blog because of this essay and blog post: ’38 Minutes’ by The King Blues, and trying to live one’s fullest life. whooah – ooah ooah – ooh ooh […]
Environmentalism has become trendy. Or at least, a certain brand of it, with shiny new products leading on selling points of saving the planet. Some of these are good, like portable coffee cups. Some of these are terrible, misguided ideas which come nowhere near saving the planet. Most recently, I noticed canned water being sold […]