Author: KB
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When Democracy Delivers the Abyss, We Need More Democracy
‘We must respect the democratic will of the people.’ So said Chancellor George Osborne this morning, after just shy of 52% of the 72% of the British population voted to leave the EU. A vote was held, the results were counted, and the fundamental principle of democracy requires that we respect the decision. But what…
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Brexit: We’ve Had It Good for Centuries; Now It’s Time to Pay
This Isn’t About Europe, It’s About Squabbling Tories As the debate on whether Britain should leave the EU comes to a head (and a rather ugly, festering one at that) I wanted to weigh in with a few thoughts on why I think it is absolutely right for Britain to remain, and why it would…
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Outbrain, In Your Brain: If Dream-Hacking Is Coming, Advertisers Will Be Licking Their Lips
A friend sent me this TED talk the other day. It’s a really fascinating look into how (in very simplistic terms) neuroscience is beginning to ‘hack’ into our brains, and locate exactly where different thoughts are lodged. The presenter is funny, and tells a good story about how the BBC had latched onto one speculative…
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Getting High – A Reader’s Guide
For those of you who have already begun the book, or are awaiting delivery, I thought it might be helpful to post a kind of field-guide to the text. That’s not to say — I hope — that it doesn’t stand alone, but for those who are interested in delving into some of the background…
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Don’t Tread Softly (Though You Tread on My Dreams)
It’s always a strange time in the run up to a book being published. Mostly, there’s a sense of excitement. But there’s also a degree of nervousness. Will people ‘get it’? Will people think it’s any good? I was thinking about this the other day, and was reminded of Yeats’ poem The Cloths of Heaven:…
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The Wolfpack, Cinema and the Yearning for Freedom
Warning: contains some spoiler material If you haven’t yet seen The Wolfpack, I’d strongly encourage you to do so. It’s a very very fine documentary film following the story of a group of 6 brothers who have grown up virtually locked away by their father in an apartment on the Lower East Side of New…