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  • about
  • life
    • arts
    • consumer
    • humour
    • science and reason
    • sport
  • media
  • politics
    • asia
    • china rising
    • europe
    • general
    • latin america
    • middle east
    • russia
    • uk
    • ukraine war
    • usa
  • travel
    • britain
    • china
    • ethiopia
    • europe
    • guatemala
    • india
    • vietnam

Category Archives: science and reason

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

Critical thinking on US electoral fraud

11 Nov

In my last years as an academic a good deal was being written about, and careers founded on, an alleged need to ‘teach critical thinking skills’ to undergraduates. Me, I was coming to a view of critical thinking as not … Read More »

science and reason, usa 22 Comments

Novichok poppycock

23 Oct

Putin poisons water in Navalny’s hotel room. Navalny gets sick and is taken to a Russian state hospital. Nobody kills him there, though a hospital is an easy place to do so. Doctors find no poison, authorities approve his transfer … Read More »

russia, science and reason 7 Comments

Three reads on CV-19

21 Oct