George Monbiot penned another fine Grauniad piece this week, this time on Jeremy Corbyn. So what have these in common: Corbyn’s leadership bid, Syriza, and Scotland’s Yes vote? Quite a lot, I’d say. One, they all tap and give focus … Read More »
My elation may be short lived and is in any case tempered by the sacrifice of Yanous Varoufakis, whose intelligence and dignity put our politicians to shame. But again Greece has shown courage in the face of crude threat and … Read More »
For all I know Putin’s a nasty piece of work who eats cats and cheats at chess. And for all I know somebody in Washington really is sincere about bringing democracy to Ukraine. Fortunately, there’s a way of viewing the scary … Read More »
It was difficult, if not impossible, for the official opposition to challenge the Coalition when the government was effectively implementing New Labour [austerity] policies. It is important to stress this fact, because as elections approach the sleepwalker segment of the … Read More »
Where we get to tick a box every five years while billionaires spray venom and foretell doom should too many of us tick The Wrong Box? (How many editorials and headlines did you get to write this past few weeks, … Read More »
Seventies feminists, and progressives in general, were pretty clueless on genetics. They had to be, to attack male supremacism with the necessary force. In any case the pendulum was still arcing outwards from the horrors of a philistine geneticism painfully … Read More »
So. Labour, emboldened by Falciani on HSBC and enraged by Signor Pessina on how Britons should vote, has tax avoidance in its sights. Predictably the Mail responded with headlines like that of three days ago: Red Ed the Tax Avoider. … Read More »
Yesterday our resident teen asked us to guess top trend on Twitter. We got it: # je suis charlie hebdo. Fourth was # kill all muslims Just park that a moment. I’ll come back to it. Later, on Newsnight, we saw … Read More »
There’s no getting round it: life throws up tough conundrums. Why am I blessed with nipples? Is Jimi’ s All Along the Watch Tower, or Bruce’ s Chimes of Freedom, the best ever Dylan cover? When I drop a hundred slices of toast on … Read More »
A friend questions my broad-brush style. He has both a history degree and a point. A cornerstone of critical thinking is that the more counter-intuitive a claim, the more evidence it needs. My recent posts run counter to dominant narratives … Read More »