I wrote about how the novel 1984 was Orwell’s view of how the UK was functioning in 1948 here and argued that he may have been right…
I recently read Anna Minton’s Ground Control and found that all the debates and protests about whether we are living with ‘Big Brother’ are now redundant. Most folk agree [...]
Archive for the ‘Britain Today’ Category
1984 has been superseded by Reality
Posted in Britain Today, Provoked by Pulp, outlook, philosophy, politics on Saturday, 12 September, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
1984 or should that be 1948?
Posted in Britain Today, Provoked by Pulp, dogma, history, media, outlook, philosophy, politics on Thursday, 20 August, 2009 | 1 Comment »
yes it’s that book by George Orwell…
My rather plush copy came with a forward by Robert Harris although that had nothing to with my purchase – I simply mention it here because he claims in the forward that George originally thought that he had produced a gem of a book but by the time he [...]
From Frankenstein to Barbarella
Posted in Britain Today, Economics, Provoked by Pulp, outlook, philosophy, relationships, science on Friday, 10 July, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Just by a strange coincidence at the same time I was mostly through that tedious but famous read Frankenstein – the news broke that Newcastle and Durham’s collective University project has worked out how to manufacture sperm… As I mused on the wild silliness of that old feminist idea that men [as in the male [...]
When is a little Fascism acceptable?
Posted in Britain Today, Facsim, Pipe & cigars, outlook, philosophy, politics on Wednesday, 17 June, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In this day and age of ever increasing legislation into our private spaces I’m going to start this post with an imaginary situation…
I’m writing in my study. I’m on my own and so I smoke my pipe, happily as it happens. Of course I have to stop smoking as soon as anybody else comes into [...]
Lord Tebbit and I or The Strangest of Allies…
Posted in Britain Today, European Elections, dogma, outlook, philosophy, politics on Sunday, 7 June, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
To folk who think that spoiling your ballot paper is a wasted throw in the democratic world – I’ve found that Lord Tebbit [the tory bulldog with little room for any sympathy for the working men and women who famously gave the 'on your bike' quote...] has indeed done the same as me.
After being warned [...]
To Happiness or a Good Life?
Posted in Britain Today, Local Elections, Utilitiarianism, dogma, faith, history, outlook, philosophy, politics on Friday, 5 June, 2009 | 14 Comments »
Let me unpack what I mean here. Happiness is standing in for Utilitarianism [as you can see 'Happiness' is comparatively user friendly] – Bentham the great grandaddy of this school defined it as the greatest total sum of happiness which has been rather cheaply reduced to the phrase ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’ [...]
Courting Power – a lesson in politics
Posted in Britain Today, dogma, history, outlook, philosophy, politics, relationships on Thursday, 4 June, 2009 | 7 Comments »
I am currently training to become a professional… No really but this post isn’t about that. You see at the moment the profession is not regulated. It has bodies that can be appealed to if the practitioner in question is one of their members – of course not everybody is a member and that’s why [...]
Wanted: Liberty!
Posted in Britain Today, European Elections, Local Elections, dogma, history, outlook, philosophy, politics on Wednesday, 3 June, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I was listenning to Hearts and Minds, on Radio4, the second episode about Isaiah Berlin is the one I think has more going for it…. and was struck by one of the quotes of Isaiah about dictators and happinness that reminded me of one of the prominent thinkers of New Labour.
Lord Richard Layard,that economist come [...]
Voting ‘Liberty!’ – The Reasons Why
Posted in Britain Today, European Elections, faith, outlook, philosophy, politics, relationships on Tuesday, 19 May, 2009 | 2 Comments »
To start with a provocative statement – I know folk who have so much faith in the ‘democratic process’ that they were reduced to idiocy when I told them I had not voted; claiming that I had no view worthy of debate…
So why spoil your vote?
In a representative democracy, which is what the U.K. and [...]
VOTE “LIBERTY!”
Posted in Britain Today, European Elections, dogma, outlook, philosophy, politics on Saturday, 16 May, 2009 | 5 Comments »
If enough folk do, they’ll have to count ‘em…
and before I get going I want to say that this post is open to being posted by anybody anywhere – and if anybody has there own pet peeve – throw it in. I want, from this post, to get to as many folk as possible because [...]
