-
Sullivan on Inequality
17 November 2011
Andrew Sullivan argues that conservatives should be concerned about inequality. In principle, they would be against government intervention to correct wealth inequality, but the situation is now so extreme – in Britain and America – that it is potentially destabilising. For properly pragmatic conservatives, stability trumps principle, so something should be done. I agree with all of this (except when he speaks of the activities of bankers as only ‘bordering on criminal’) but I do wonder if … More
-
Car News
17 November 2011
There are a lot of new Mercedes taxis around London. They are faster, bigger, quieter and more comfortable than the black cabs so obviously they must be eliminated before they take over completely. The Merc is a characterless global bus, the black cab is London on four wheels. Meanwhile, to complete today’s car news, Land Rover has unveiled a Defender replacement. It too looks more globish than British. As Wired remarks, it could be a Honda. There … More
-
A Fatal Mix of Intellect and Power
17 November 2011
I love the Guardian phrase ‘a formidable amount of intellectual fire-power’ to describe Mario Monti’s cabinet. Intellectuals and power go together like chocolate and cod. Necon intellectuals conceived the invasion of Iraq, mathematical intellectuals sat on the board of Long Term Capital Management, economic intellectuals approved the ‘turbo-capitalist’ phase that is now crashing in flames and, of course, banking intellectuals helped conceal Greek debts and persuaded themselves they had conquered risk. One could add … More
-
HCB is Better than Gursky
16 November 2011
I have been muttering to myself about this picture for days now. It is Andreas Gursky’s Rhein II and it recently sold for $4.3 million, a price that caused some amazement. It is hard to discuss in detail since I have not seen it so I cannot judge the effect of scale – it is huge – and these low-res internet versions give very little idea of detail. I do, however, ‘get it’ in … More
-
The Root Philosophy
14 November 2011
Thanks for this, Andrew. The diagram emerges from a simple rule: following the first link of any Wikipedia article and you will always be led to philosophy. I find this consoling. Perhaps the point is that the root category is not physics as it would be in a wholly materialist account of the world. A human account ends with an abstraction.
-
The ‘Ethics’ of Banks
14 November 2011
David Rothkopf suggests ethical investors should withdraw from banks as they did from tobacco.
Unethical acts? Gambling? These already seem to fit some of our larger and more reckless financial institutions. If Citibank pays a $285m fine for knowingly selling products that it was itself betting against, if Goldman executives actively discussed promoting securities they knew to be “crap”, don’t they invite exclusion from socially responsible investment portfolios? What about institutions that lent money to Greece “off balance sheet” … More
-
Podcasting
14 November 2011
My first podcast – at The Guardian.
-
The Onion Masterpiece
14 November 2011
In my article on The Onion, I mentioned the funniest interview I have ever seen on the web. Here it is:
-
Guardian Epiphany
12 November 2011
In a podcast – out on Monday – interview for the Guardian, the subject of inevitability came up. Basically, the familiar argument is that technological progress is entirely determined so there is no point in complaining about it or, indeed, deluding oneself into thinking one can do anything about it. This is what most people think in spite of the fact that it is quite meaningless. In a, for me, typical moment of esprit d’escalier or rather esprit d’escalator, I … More
-
The Old Fools
11 November 2011
When the buffer of the moment, John Sergeant or Russell Grant or Ann Widdecombe, is cheered, with only a touch of irony, by the studio audience, it is a warning of what lies ahead.
This is Terence Blacker in the Indy. The characteristically sharp comment on the old fool factor in Strictly Come Dancing. (Incidentally, why is it called that? How many viewers will remember that it refers both to an old TV show and to Strictly Ballroom, … More
- One Hot Breath
- They Have Found It!
- Delocated Pain
- Dylan and Ai Weiwei
- Branson’s Benthos
- WOW
- Beating Bruce
- Jordan’s Hair
- Cohen’s Who-Whom?
- Semantic Seizure
- Jacobean Blood
- The Soul of Ron Mueck
- Extremophiles: Life on the Edge
- The Opposite of Faith is not Doubt, it is Certainty
- David Hare’s Rattigan
- Planet Hunting
- The Once and Future Tee-Mo
- The Truth of Islam
- Soul Searching
- Overthrowing Chomsky
