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The Colonels, Salazar, Franco….?
04 November 2011
What I find most disturbing about the financial storm sweeping through southern Europe is that a military junta – known as The Colonels – ruled Greece and Salazar ruled Portugal as recently as 1974. Franco, meanwhile, died in 1975, ending Spain’s fascist regime. Perhaps more is at stake here than the survival of the EU or the Euro, perhaps liberal democracy is threatened. Like any political system, it is far more fragile than its adherents and beneficiaries can ever acknowledge. … More
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My New Site
03 November 2011
Welcome to my new web site and thanks to Tourist, the designers. The idea is to explain and develop the ideas in my new book, The Brain is Wider than the Sky. The title is from an Emily Dickinson poem. All comments, thoughts, abuse and endorsements are welcome – after all, they will at least raise the possibility that you have bought or downloaded the book. You can get some idea of its content from … More
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One Hot Breath
17 August 2011
I interviewed Tariq Jahan last week – full version here. He was the father of Haroon, one of the boys killed in Winson Green, Birmingham, by a car deliberately driven into a crowd. Almost at once he gave a speech which became the brightest spot in a grim week.
‘Why do we have to kill one another?” Why are we doing this? Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise, calm down and go home – … More
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They Have Found It!
06 April 2011
Ohmygod! They have found a thing that changes everything. The discovery is being regarded with ‘awe and scepticism’ and it could be ‘the most significant discovery in physics in half a century’. But what is it? Well, everybody is agreed it’s a bump, but some think it might be a Higgs Boson and others think it may be a new fundamental force. To be exact, ‘nobody knows what this is’. For all babyboomers suffering from More
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Delocated Pain
06 April 2011
Meditation is a better analgesic than morphine. The headline on this piece is funny – ‘Demystifying meditation’. In fact, the study seems to remystify meditation since it shows, for reasons as yet unknown, it is extraordinarily powerful. But what catches the eye is the meditative suppression of somatosensory activity. This is a kind of sixth sense with which we, among other things, locate parts of our body – in this case the somatosensory system tells us where … More
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Dylan and Ai Weiwei
06 April 2011
Bob plays Beijing tonight. I wonder if he will upset the Chinese by calling for the release of Ai Weiwei. It is what he would have done in the old days, ah, but he was so much older then, he’s younger than that now.
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Branson’s Benthos
06 April 2011
I like the sound of Richard Branson’s submarine. In fact, lately I find I like the sound of Branson and his daft but thrilling projects. At least he does things just for the hell of it. He plans to dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, a name and a place that has made my skin prickle since I was a boy. Somehow, unexplored earth is still more promising than unexplored space, probably … More
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WOW
06 April 2011
I did not know it was Worse Off Wednesday, but, now I do, I feel worse off.
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Beating Bruce
06 April 2011
I once went to the Ivory Coast accompanied by Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and others. In the course of the plane’s final approach I beat Springsteen with a pillow – it was an Amnesty International world tour and pillow fights were a pre-landing ritual. I was trying to beat some sense into Springsteen because he had refused to talk to me. Abidjan was so menacing that even the tough roadies fell silent. ‘They’re really scared,’ said … More
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Jordan’s Hair
03 April 2011
I was just told it now takes 14 hours to do Katie Price’s hair. If she has it done every day and sleeps eight hours, this means she has only two hours to be the Jordan we know and love. The problem is she needs each hair to be smoothed by the lips of Philippino orphans. Okay, I made that last bit up, but still….
- Thoughts Whose Very Sweetness…
- The Clue
- For the Boffins
- More One Leg Standing
- Elizabeth Taylor – What Is Missing?
- Corsodyl and Anxiety
- The Knitting Granny God
- The Comedy of Command
- Standing on One Leg
- Free Will
- Florian Zeller: Sais Pas
- Clement and the Curse of the Freuds
- Gabriele Finaldi: The Catford Catholic Connoisseur
- Susan Faludi and her Sex-Change Dad
- Live Long and Prosper? Maybe Not
- Eddie Izzard: Comedy King of the Remainers
- Demolishing the Intelligence Superstition
- Tate Modern: Brick Conquers Glass
- Genetics: Better With? Better Without?
- Lesley Manville Is Mum
