Coping with opposition

19 Nov

Syria .. Putin .. Brexit .. Corbyn .. climate change .. Trump. What have they in common? All are issues on which most of us have opinions we imagine we arrived at ourselves. But didn’t Asch and Milgram show how … Read More »

Snappy Come-backs No: 373

18 Nov

A Grauniad below-the-line commenter the other day wanted to know if a fellow commenter, given to making abusive remarks in upper case, is SHOUTING ON PURPOSE. I only ask because a bloke I know reckons there’s a button you can … Read More »

Ten Old Songs

15 Nov

See also – Sincerely, L. Cohen Like many who owe a pleasure as unexpected as it was precious – seeing a septuagenarian Leonard Cohen in concert – to the former manager and lover who stole all his money to force … Read More »

A tsunami of outrage

15 Nov

A day and a half after we knew Trump had won, I emailed friends on both sides of the Atlantic with this heavily edited version of an open letter by Thomas Harrington, Professor of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut. … Read More »

Red Poppies in Moffat

13 Nov

Remembrance Day in Moffat. To paraphrase Putin’s comment on the Soviet Union: anyone who fails to see that Britain’s wars – from WW1 to Syria – have been created by and/or pursued in the interests of Profit has no understanding. … Read More »

Sincerely, L. Cohen

12 Nov

See also, Ten Old Songs .. In a year marked by the bowing out of unusual talent, Leonard Cohen’s death is for me the most poignant. In January I wrote a post on David Bowie in a couple of hours, … Read More »

So now we know

9 Nov

I went to bed last night knowing, as I have for months, that the next POTUS will be appalling. Now we know which brand of appalling. Now we look set to see the Racist Demagogue in the Oval Office rather … Read More »

I’ll take seriously …

5 Nov

… those who say she is the lesser evil since he is misogynist when they look me in the eye to tell me millions of women, their lives disproportionately blighted by her warmongering, aren’t relevant to that debate. Ditto the … Read More »