Category: Planet Earth

  • Attempt at making a list

    And now for all the good things, the things for which those who believe in a God have reason to offer thanks. Such a list, my friends, is called for, to prevent us from weeping all day and all night over Aleppo and all the little dead children there; an energetic list, to the accompaniment…

  • And so it goes

    Much has happened since the Middle Ages, not to mention since the Stone Age. Most of us now have TVs, for instance, and can witness what people are doing in other parts of the world. Many of us enjoy being on-line every moment of the day, except perhaps in the shower. We get healthier food…

  • TTIP

    One of the things we should not do – and I mean NOT – is to fail to notice a rather sinister business super-deal looming on the horizon. As we know, big business has a way of devising smart ways of making money and of disregarding all consequences for the physical and social climate on…

  • Told you so

    It is very rude, in polite society, to say “I told you so”. But I don’t belong to polite society. I’m just one of those solitary creatures swimming around in the sea and observing the growing mess humanity is making of it. And indeed I did say, again and again, directly and indirectly, that the…

  • What’ll it be, eh?

    I have just read an article in El Pais  which alerted me to a debate that appears to be raging in many academic circles. The writer refers to the immortal opening lines of Dicken’s novel Tale of Two Cities, which he finds particularly relevant. And who could disagree? It was the best of times, it…

  • Shrinking Zipping and Sharing

    No, this is not a lecture on how to get rid of your mother-in-law /teacher / unfaithful spouse / boss or even the President, though you might say it is, in fact, a lecture on applied modern cannibalism. This is about how to get rid of man’s worst foe, the wolf. You didn’t know that…

  • Little pieces in a big puzzle

    — I guess I’ve been a bit quiet lately… — What? — Oh. Yes, every day. Here, too. And fog. But, no, it’s not the weather. It’s … — What? … yes, very depressing. Anyway: this guy Mirowski… — Sixty days? Well, that’s something. Even Mirowski would be impressed, I’m sure. — Philip. — No,…