Thinking

Orwell said it better

Now that I’m thinking a little more clearly, I can recognise that the hopelessness I’ve been feeling lately, which reached its height this morning, stems from a very old source. Here it is: Under the capitalist system, in order that…
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Band-aid applied

Well, I feel a little better now. Looked through photographs covering the last year of my life while listening to a random selection of my songs on iTunes (came out as “Puppet Man” by The 5th Dimension, “Kinky Afro” by…
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Hopelessness

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I’ve been afflicted by an all-encompassing sense of hopelessness lately when I think about the world, and blogging has seemed pointless. I look at all the people absorbed in the minutiae of…
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The Vocabulary of Protest

Some day I’m going to compile a list of all the adjectives used by journalists writing about protesters. Sometimes protesters are irresponsible, obstructive or stubborn, other times they are aggressive or violent, and usually the word anarchist crops up sooner…
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Whatever…

Can I bring myself to write about Tony Blair’s long-overdue departure? Do I have the energy? The interest? Barely. I’m certainly not going to go into a long, earnest assessment of the pros and cons of his reign. The reason?…
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The Burkini Affair: a follow-up

Just wanted to do a quick follow-up to the story of Manal Omar that I posted a few weeks ago. (Brief synopsis: woman tries to wear Islamic-style swimsuit in British fitness centre and all hell breaks loose.) Islamophobia Watch points…
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Happy Bank Holiday!

Why, exactly, does it have to rain every Bank Holiday Monday? Personally, I blame the name. Bank Holiday. I mean, who names a public holiday after a bank? Do banks have any good connotations for anybody? I’m surprised we don’t…
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Terrorists I am scared of

I lived in New York through 9/11, orange alerts, red alerts, purple alerts and all the rest, and never really felt a visceral fear of Al Qaeda, any more than I felt afraid of the IRA living in London during…
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I merely belong

When I lived in the USA, I was always amused and confused by people who puffed out their chests and said how proud they were to be American. Now that I’m back in London, the government here declares its intent…
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