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Category Archives: science and reason

How I joined a cult. Part 6: Science!

18 Jan

Continued from Part 5 Note the child. Many kids appreciate the benefits and take well to meditation. The eighties BBC 1 series QED – that which is to be proved – popularised scientific principles by applying them in various arenas. One … Read More »

science and reason 3 Comments

How I joined a cult. Part 5: Ineffability

29 Dec

The Andrew Cohen Community at Foxhollow, Massachusetts, 2002 Did I fail in Part 4 to show, as any storyteller should, those ‘deep’ or ‘heightened’ states of ‘non dual’ consciousness I say were milestones on my road to culthood? In fairness … Read More »

science and reason 8 Comments

My December Reads

27 Dec

What would you do if stuck in a lift with John Pilger? Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, in a new book reviewed here by Media Lens, quotes with approval a fellow journalist saying he’d stick pins in his eyes to … Read More »

general, latin america, media, science and reason, usa 6 Comments

How I joined a cult. Part 4: Who am I?

16 Dec

Continued from part 3 … On the road to Rishikesh/I was dreaming more or less/And the dream I had was real/And the dream I had was real … John wrote those lines shortly before the Beatles, disillusioned by the Maharishi’s … Read More »

science and reason 17 Comments

Why I respect Caitlin Johnstone

11 Dec

An exchange below one of my pieces in OffGuardian a few months ago had me ‘othered’ by a posse of commentariat for “approvingly” quoting writers this armchair clan frowns upon. How did I recognise my BTL detractors as an armchair … Read More »

general, science and reason 4 Comments

How I joined a cult. Part 2: Meditation

6 Dec

See part 1 here. Yoga is a wonderful thing. Please disregard the fact I no longer practise it: that’s just my inertia. Soon I’ll get back to it, even if I have been saying that for 11 years – ever … Read More »

science and reason 9 Comments

Propaganda Studies, Lesson 9,795,736

5 Dec

I hate to put it so rudely, but if you’re not disgusted, terrified and incandescent in broadly equal measure then you’re either in need of a brain transplant or – more likely – one of the millions of sleep walkers … Read More »

asia, science and reason, usa 6 Comments

The night Ricky stuck it to Hollywood

2 Dec

I’ve alluded before now to this exquisitely discomforting night for some, but never got round to giving it a post of its own. Time to put that right. If I’ve seen the highlights once of Ricky Gervais at the Golden … Read More »

arts, humour, science and reason

Paraprosdokians

24 Nov

Thanks to Mick for this. Commenting on my bicycle thieves post he quoted actor, writer and stand up comic Emo Philips: I asked God for a bike, but then realised God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike … Read More »

humour, science and reason 6 Comments

Why did Trump get so many votes?

15 Nov

In my previous post, on America’s Christian Right, I said: Trump (a loose cannon of broadly neocon instinct) was never going to “bring US jobs home” when globalised capital-labour relations, and Wall St need to maximise profits, dictate that wealth … Read More »

science and reason, usa 18 Comments

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tune for the day

In the sweet embrace of life. In This House, On This Morning, 1993, the Wynton Marsalis Septet are filled with the Holy Ghost

last 350 posts (most recent first)

  • Scott Ritter: “no changes for Europe”
  • Ad hominem? Sileo iam meus theca!
  • Mike Pompeo
  • How I joined a cult. Part 6: Science!
  • The two faces of the US Empire
  • Imperialism: two equally needed takes
  • The name’s Ball – James Ball
  • Turkish delight at Capitol riots
  • Stop trivializing the term, coup!
  • The Tragedy of Corbynism
  • Cook on the Assange decision
  • On a commuter train to Perth, Scotland
  • In the sweet embrace of opacity
  • How I joined a cult. Part 5: Ineffability
  • My December Reads
  • Dancing in the (UK Tax Haven) Streets
  • Haines & Morell: Biden’s new Intel picks?
  • Everyone was wrong about Trump
  • Compared to you we’re squeaky clean!
  • 250 today – never roll over, Beethoven!
  • How I joined a cult. Part 4: Who am I?
  • The most lethal virus is War
  • Two takes on Robert Fisk
  • Why I respect Caitlin Johnstone
  • How I joined a cult. Part 3: Enlightenment
  • America’s beautifully diverse war machine
  • How I joined a cult. Part 2: Meditation
  • Our tern
  • Propaganda Studies, Lesson 9,795,736
  • Nuthatch and other high fliers
  • How I joined a cult. Part 1: Midlife crisis
  • The night Ricky stuck it to Hollywood
  • My November reads
  • In the footsteps of DH Lawrence
  • Diego Armando Maradona
  • “My mother made me a lesbian …”
  • “Taiwan will be the flash point”
  • Paraprosdokians
  • Top cat
  • Bicycle thieves
  • Snowy waxcaps
  • Job-spec for a Russia correspondent
  • Ethiopa: casualty of cold war on China?
  • What Caity said next …
  • Why did Trump get so many votes?
  • God’s warriors: America’s Christian Right
  • Critical thinking on US electoral fraud
  • Byron or Shelley?
  • The king is dead – long live the king!
  • Forgive my not dancing in the streets
  • In death he folded his legs like a baby
  • Just asking …
  • The Boat Lift at Redhill Marina
  • The US Election – poison or bullet?
  • Without extensive marketing …
  • Brexit, Bezos and Boris
  • My October reads
  • Novichok poppycock
  • Today at Attenborough
  • Who scares wins
  • Three reads on CV-19
  • Canada’s illegal recruiting for the IDF
  • On Rothesay Avenue
  • Politics and language
  • Fascism, Trumpism and the Left
  • What’s the point of George Monbiot?
  • “Where’s my final Assange report?”
  • Monopoly, and the death of yeast
  • Cook on Covid
  • The perks of customer loyalty
  • Escobar on Azerbaijan
  • Sloe gin’s a-coming
  • Caitlin on the Biden-Trump ‘debate’
  • Formby on Friday
  • My September reads
  • Julian, Guardian & the law of volitionality
  • Lies, damn lies – and Julian’s razor blade
  • “… a bad faith actor like David Leigh”
  • The Assange Hearing is a travesty!
  • The pike and heron
  • Slow boat to St Ives
  • Houghton Mill to Huntingdon
  • Afloat in the fens
  • Saturday on the Soar
  • Was aiding Trump Wikileaks’ real crime?
  • Clive Stafford Smith on Wikileaks
  • Assange: ask not for whom the bell tolls
  • My August reads
  • Two lonely blokes in a park final
  • The Economist on Huawei
  • Our beautifully democratic wars
  • Coup 53
  • Norfolk again
  • My July reads
  • Critical thinking on China
  • The political economy of our media
  • Russian bounty payments? Zero evidence!
  • Four days in Norfolk
  • My June Reads
  • Assange and the sex predators
  • Andromeda’s gonna get you!
  • Baissez le bruit!
  • No uncertain terns
  • Caesar’s Palace
  • Meet the latest social media censor
  • America burns – and wages war on truth
  • Those who looked the other way
  • Great crested grebes go fishing
  • Speaking of police brutality
  • ALL legs matter!
  • Kneeling to kill (and other pictures)
  • Guest post: a reply to Alexis Fitzgerald
  • My May reads
  • More on the CV-19 Science
  • If only I wasn’t a commitment phobe
  • A Nationwide People’s HQ for Covid-19
  • Three cheers for Susan Sarandon
  • Let’s write a rude limerick!
  • War on Syria is based on lies
  • War with China will be based on lies
  • Covid-19 and the academic precariat
  • A People’s HQ for Covid-19
  • First thoughts on Normal People
  • A Toton Sidings Sunday
  • Wollaton today
  • Subsidising large families
  • My April reads
  • The myth of CV-19
  • Walking the Erewash
  • The Soar on Sunday
  • CV-19 – an open letter to Off-Guardian
  • What do the nurses say?
  • Easter at Wollaton Park
  • Science for the righteous
  • A tale of two doctors
  • Pandemic, super-capitalism and struggle
  • More questions
  • “Let the kids spread the virus!”
  • Murray on Assange: Beyond Words
  • Questions, just questions
  • CV-19: 4 Reads from Info Clearing House
  • CV19 and the search for a vaccine
  • Covid-19, Supernovas, Capital Implosion
  • Now it’s a DRUGS WAR on Venezuela!
  • The apricity of William of Ockham
  • Covid-19 – supermarket scramble
  • Judge warns of “slide into police state”
  • Two aspects of Covid-19
  • Portrait of the artist and his old man
  • 12 Experts Question the Coronavirus Panic
  • Cuba sends medical team to Italy
  • Lancet Editor slates UK “failure to act”
  • The Guardian on Covid-19
  • Labour Party: your silence is deafening!
  • Cook on Covid-19
  • WSWS on Covid-19
  • Kevin Ovenden on Covid-19
  • Varoufakis on Covid-19
  • Covid-19 – capitalism on trial
  • “Grazi Cina!” – and roll over Beethoven
  • Corona Capitalism
  • Klein on Covid-19
  • Caitlin on Covid-19
  • Julian Assange Global Protest
  • Coronavirus, the market and who rules?
  • Covid-19 – the China Syndrome
  • Help Chelsea Manning
  • China, Russia, Covid-19 and the EU
  • Pilger on pandemics
  • Identity Politics
  • Old Age Pensions
  • Sore loser at the Grand National
  • Do we jail journalists for exposing crimes?
  • Peter Hitchens on Douma
  • My February reads
  • Craig Murray: Assange Hearing Day 4
  • Craig Murray: Assange Hearing Day 3
  • Roger Waters on Julian Assange
  • Craig Murray: Assange Hearing Day 2
  • Craig Murray: Assange Hearing Day 1
  • More bad thinking on real injustice
  • The Syrian Army in Idlib
  • A word or two on the Social Contract
  • Twenty years of schooling and …
  • Do bear cubs dance in the woods?
  • Sanders and the US Primaries
  • Plato on Assange
  • His life in her hands
  • So I called my wife …
  • Dear Labour Party, please expel me
  • Coffee Grounds for Divorce …
  • Ecocide: the Mullah Nasruddin speaks!
  • £350m for the NHS – just saying
  • Book Review: Global Justice and Finance
  • The further a society drifts from truth …
  • Pullman Coaches on Oxford Comma
  • Virgin Healthcare
  • My January Reads
  • It’s a flying shame!
  • Talking WW3 Blues
  • Cui bono?
  • Sarcasm on social media
  • Caitlin on the rape of Iraq
  • Dems v GOP. Pot. Kettle. Black.
  • If you have the oil …
  • Stealing the sun
  • Rogue State!
  • Antisemitism and IQ revisited
  • My December reads
  • Thieves take note
  • Truth to power: the real deal
  • No – it won’t be Jess Phillips!
  • Waiting for Goddard’s
  • More Hitchens on Douma
  • Attenborough today
  • The appalling Jess Phillips (take 2)
  • It’s a rum do and no mistake
  • All the best mate, from your son
  • Jonathan Cook: it’s the media wot won it
  • Life is sad. Life is a bust …
  • Why vote Labour today?
  • Jesus or Barabbas?
  • The Dirty War on the NHS
  • Pushing back the frontiers of margarine!
  • Whataboutery?
  • Douma Hoax: Anatomy of a False Flag
  • One day …
  • TV Review: Gold Digger
  • Honest Boris Johnson
  • Bad thinking on gross injustice
  • Wollaton Park today
  • Sunset today
  • London Bridge attack
  • Kissinger: “US Exceptionalism is over”
  • Circular walk from Cromford Wharf
  • Peter Hitchens on Douma
  • Morgan to Morgan: 50,000 new nurses
  • Attenborough today
  • The Pink Hand Gang
  • Cook on Corbyn and “antisemitism”
  • Thus spake the Chief Rabbi
  • Is my team ploughing?
  • Three November reads
  • Those Epstein conspiracy theories …
  • Syria – how Trotskyism got it so wrong
  • Empire strikes back!
  • Rising tensions within the OPCW
  • The Diplomat and the White Helmet
  • Caitlin Johnstone on the Bolivia coup
  • Tucker Carlson on Julian Assange
  • Film review: Sorry We Missed You
  • Syria, the OPCW and the CIA renegade
  • Death of the White Helmets founder
  • Thus spake Hillary
  • Identity politics: the new totalitarianism
  • First they came for Assange …
  • Attenborough today
  • A mother bereft
  • Free Julian Assange
  • Sputnik on Syria
  • Roger Waters on Julian Assange
  • Tebay today
  • Trump: “we want to keep the oil”
  • War’s a nice earner … Jesus had it rough
  • My October reads
  • “We create our own reality!”
  • The streets of Barcelona
  • More cheap money for the bankers!
  • The problem with the OPCW …
  • Kremlin talking points …
  • Caitlin “me me me” Johnstone
  • Do buzzards eat puppies?
  • The Kurds in Syria
  • Wildlife at Wollaton
  • Ukraine: Trump and the deep state
  • Dog psychology at Steel City House
  • Attenborough after the rain
  • Bard of Avon – busted!
  • Three short reads from September
  • Russia’s Defence Minister speaks
  • Halt Iran’s aggression now!
  • Death in Yemen: the British connection
  • A tale of two Brexits
  • Nottingham to Newark by canoe
  • Sex near the city
  • The oil paintings of Anne Penman Sweet
  • A short walk from St Neots
  • The EU – do we stay or do we go?
  • Demonising Mister Mugabe
  • “Passivity is to invite a death sentence”
  • Last night in the House
  • Early autumn Attenborough
  • Film review: Blinded by the Light
  • Balanced reporting?
  • Democracy? What’s that got to do with it?
  • Partisangirl (and HRC) on Jeffrey Epstein
  • Limits to Western “regime change”
  • Circular walk from Matlock
  • Trump isn’t helping but …
  • Three new reads
  • The Magnificernt Severn
  • Sarin in Syria: chemistry, and cui bono?
  • Epstein suicided? Come on, grow up!
  • If
  • From Camden Lock to Portobello Rd
  • Jeffrey Epstein: 3 things we know
  • Capital punishment? It’s simple really
  • Bad arguments for good causes
  • Global warming: the USA weaponises oil
  • Three short reads on empire hot spots
  • Russiagate as Organised Distraction
  • Pity the nation
  • Boris rich? Jezza’s twice the man!
  • This cabinet of horrors …
  • The man who planted trees
  • River of Fear
  • On mendacity and credulity
  • About as much use as …
  • What if?
  • What an OIL TANKER!
  • Iran: what next?
  • Tom Watson: follow the money
  • On the water, man and dog
  • Bob Dylan – one killer of a poet
  • Muhammad nailed it
  • BBC Hasbara Cooked
  • On crying wolf and confirmation bias
  • Book review: Israel, a Beachhead …
  • Impasse de la Guerre in France & Italy
  • Egrets, I’ve seen a few …
  • Backwards thinking at the chemists
  • Antisemitism: what does that even mean?
  • Nils Melzer on Julian Assange
  • A day on the Dordogne
  • OPCW leak: what’s the story, George?
  • Wollaton Park yesterday
  • May ends in tears
  • Birds and bees
  • The crazy world we live in
  • Can Alice Miller shed light on America?
  • Roger Waters on the Douma False Flag
  • Two days at Attenborough
  • I had no desire to die in a rice paddy
  • A New York cabbie on French numbering
  • Syria: the lies unravel
  • Profit and the Arms Economy
  • Little things to save the environment
  • Julian Assange: Three Reads and a Video
  • Iran and the Empire of Evil
  • Letter to Julian Assange
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