What do animals know, huh?
22
Jan
Dog ownership sure has made me rethink some of my anthropocentric world views. See what you make of Cristina Zenato as she swims with the sharks.
Category Archives: life
The Fab Four: a very personal view
19
Jan
Born in late 1952, my lifelong love affair with The Beatles was pre-ordained. An early sign came when, on a rainswept night in March ’63, a few pals on a council estate on the cusp of Northern Sheffield, and a … Read More »
Two prose poems
7
Jan
Brecht is powerful but it’s Michael Rosen who captures our zeitgeist.
How NOT to combat “antisemitism”
6
Jan
Below is a Facebook exchange, I think self explanatory, from a few days ago. Let me say right out I never set eyes on any of its three participants, though last week Ian Jenkins sent a friend request after I’d … Read More »
First they came for the socialists …
10
Dec
this post also features in offguardian It’s ten to one you read in my title the opener to a much cited quote about Nazi Germany. And two to one that even if you couldn’t identify the author, Pastor Martin Niemöller, … Read More »
Purple ribbons for Owen Jenkins
13
Nov
The Trent at Beeston, three miles upstream of Nottingham, is tranquil today … … the serenity enhanced by the meres – flooded gravel pits to be accurate – of Attenborough Nature Reserve, rich in wild life with some of the … Read More »
Peterloo and the Realist tradition
4
Nov
THIS POST ALSO FEATURES IN COUNTERPUNCH and in OffGuardian Worthy, sumptuously shot, convincingly acted and not without moments of insight – but a tad leaden. That’s my take on Mike Leigh’s new film, released November 2. I’ll give a more … Read More »
Give me back my face!
18
Oct
The meaning of life – of love, lust, art and the torn and bleeding heart of Civil War Spain – was ripped out and laid bare last night in this flamenco studded bull roar of a drama at the tiny … Read More »
Book review: Unprecedented Crime …
17
Oct
this post also features in offguardian The unprecedented crime Peter Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth refer to is that of willfully allowing global temperatures to rise, through greenhouse gas emissions, to levels already causing large-scale loss of life while threatening human … Read More »
#MeToo v the presumption of innocence
12
Oct
I’ve written on this before; irreconcilable tensions between individual and social justice when it comes to sexual violence on women and its prosecution through the criminal justice system. These tensions come to the fore when the accused are celebrities and/or … Read More »