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Patrick Keiller at Housman’s Bookshop (1)
I love the smell of hobby horses in the evening so naturally I went to hear Patrick Keiller, architect-turned-filmmaker and psychogeographer extraordinaire give a talk at Housman’s bookshop a couple of...
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I’m the urban spaceman, baby
There should be a collective noun for a mismatched set of opinions that are almost unfailingly congenial to one particular type of person, which are unmistakeably redolent of That Sort of Person but...
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The economics of anxiety
Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to...
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You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
On Wednesday, to Housman’s bookshop in King’s Cross, a place I am making a habit of, to hear Jeff Laster talk about the Weathermen, the radical 60s student underground movement in America of which he...
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“The one about the Chinese lapdancer”
My quest to become London’s premier Rubbish Polymath leads me to all sorts of places in the name of edutainment (the pub, in the case below), and I don’t always have wherewithal/spoons to record my...
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Unreview! The Dark Net by Jamie Bartlett
UoL Goldsmiths has a department with the promisingly Mulder-esque name of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit. They run a glittering speakers series whose link I am sharing reluctantly, because...
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Blessed are the carbreakers
The Green London AM Jenny Jones has put out an odd little curate’s egg of a report complaining about the Mayor of London’s backing of residential housing projects at the cost of light industrial land...
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Five things the Lib Dems should do now that nobody else has suggested
There are lots of great posts floating round the Lib Dem blogosphere right now and being attentively read by Tim Farron about things the party needs to do to recover from the recent great disaster,...
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The Crisis Info Hub
I am always the last in line of the early adopters, or first in line of the mainstream, as you care to take it (I’m not sure which is worse) so when I have a good idea about something, I can reasonably...
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Polymaths at war
This is a little potted biography of Moshe Feldenkrais from the introduction to The Potent Self (disclaimer, this book gets rave reviews across The Internet but I’ve only read his preface so far and he...
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The voice inside your head
On Saturday I learned something that blew my tiny mind, so much so that I was all out of wonder and awe by the time Eurovision came on. Apparently, some people don’t have an inner monologue – an...
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Why is the concept of species so important to us?
In terms of the history of biological enquiry, I don’t know, but I think I know why the mind picks at things like the discovery of stalagmite constructions created by Neanderthals in a French cave...
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The death of Jo Cox. Enough.
It’s a little thundery outside, and I’m writing this. I’ll probably wish later I’d cloaked it in more protective, distant, ironic language, or indeed tried to write in proper sentences, but I don’t...
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Will there come a time when Farage looks like a moderate choice?
The future of Nigel Farage’s political career may not be anyone’s idea of happy lunch time puzzler today. Actually it feels like I’ve been up eating shit sandwiches all night and am now voluntarily...
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The great battle of our times – politics and psychopaths
It’s hard at the moment not to conceive of the wider political context in terms of Lord of the Rings quotes. This probably explains why I enjoyed the otherwise devastating Game of Thrones finale last...
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I have friends who are socialists – the Corbyn leadership challenge
*eyes down* I have friends who are… socialists. *indrawn breaths and mutterings all round* I have an unresolved tension in my political soul – I am not much of a socialist, yet I yearn for them to...
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Mandates and who has them
It will tickle you if you are of a constitutional cast of mind and also like saying the word “mandate” repeatedly to note the following: On the one hand, Prime-Minister-by-the-end-of-tomorrow Theresa...
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How to think about the entrenched wealth of the aristocracy
I was recently talking to a constitutional historian whose main interest is in the royal family. He was frustrated and amused by the fact that people’s default assumption about him was that he must be...
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A history/archaeology of Crazy Shit
I have a belief about beliefs Posit: certain beliefs cluster. Through an unknown combination of crowd effect (you like the stuff your friends like) and perhaps some weird, alchemical property of the...
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NOTES: War Photo Limited, Dubrovnik
Photo above, my own. Dubrovnik from the city walls, September 2016. Rooves much repaired. The many brighter orange patches are where the shells fell. Below are a few pictures from the exhibitions at...
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