Category: Politics
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‘Dervish at the Door’ | Farage and His Tired Jokes
‘We haggle and make jokes, to keep what we own for ourselves’ This poem by Jelaluddin Rumi (1207 – 1273) speaks rather beautifully, I think, to a picture of modern Britain these past few days, to our too-often selfish and soulless relationship to those who have come to our borders in need. ‘A deserted place.’ Sterile.…
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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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Walt, The Wire and The Waltons – Thoughts on Breaking Bad and The Wire
As Breaking Bad draws to a finale (last episode airing on Sunday / Monday) I wanted to post some quick thoughts – clear warning, this may therefore contain spoilers. It’s become a bit of a truism to say that it’s the best thing on TV, but it really has been an immensely enjoyable series. I…
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Revolutionaries or Decorators? | Art, Brutality and Transformation
Been meaning to post something on this for a few weeks: on holiday this summer I read (recommended by an Italian friend) Michel Houellebecq’s novel The Possibility of an Island. He’s a very good but pretty bleak writer, with a very disturbing vision of humanity. The TLS describe the book as ‘a charging bull in…