17 Points: How to make the world safe for all people

First published in early autumn 2022. In the view that all people depend on peace for their survival and wellbeing, and in the knowledge that peace is at grave risk of breakdown, there are several points that may be well understood by those wise enough to choose peace over war. To that end, the seventeen … Continue reading 17 Points: How to make the world safe for all people →

The music industry to come: What’s next for the greatest show on Earth

Written on 23-24 November 2022. Music is evolving. That much is clear. Netflix’s ‘The Playlist’ depicts the last era of class and generational warfare in the market of music. On the one hand were the young and the poor, fighting for their rights to consume and produce music without losing out to the winners, the … Continue reading The music industry to come: What’s next for the greatest show on Earth →

My way now: How it’s going to work

Until now I’ve been reacting and responding to the world around me. I know I’ve benefitted in a way. But it does not stop the toxicity. So let me end it. My way. donde esta la bibioteca 1. No more donations, no more investments. I want my money back now. I want some returns. 2. … Continue reading My way now: How it’s going to work →

The Itaewon tragedy, the sinking of the Titanic, and the new interwar years

The Itaewon tragedy in Seoul has shocked South Korea and the world as it is revealed 153 people died as a result of over-congestion related to Halloween festivities. As the West mourns a boring Halloween, Korea finds itself mourning losses that mirror the tragedy at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival last year at which 10 died, … Continue reading The Itaewon tragedy, the sinking of the Titanic, and the new interwar years →

The 90s are back, kinda

The 1990s were full of crazy ideas. The ‘end of history’, the ‘clash of civilizations’, and the ‘coming anarchy’ could not all be true, right? But they were all true. We are, as another 90s prophet argued, ‘back to the future’. The 90s are back, baby. Well, kinda. Let me explain. Welcome to the 20s. … Continue reading The 90s are back, kinda →

Machiavelli Against The Bullies

Machiavellian has become a byword for scheming, calculating, sinister, and manipulative. But that is exactly what Machiavelli is not. Let me explain. Machiavelli, the anti-bully? Bullies are not Machiavellian. Bullies are weak-minded, appetitive, brutish individuals who think they can impose their will by force on particular people — not to achieve any particular end, but … Continue reading Machiavelli Against The Bullies →

Why Only a Labour Government Can Reduce Anti-Semitism

An article from 2019 based on a Cambridge politics long essay (awarded a first) on the question of whether there is a causal connection between globalisation (defined as the geo-temporal expansion of institutional disunity and distributional inequality, as defined below) and antisemitism (also defined below) in history. What causes anti-Semitism? It’s a question not often … Continue reading Why Only a Labour Government Can Reduce Anti-Semitism →

Peace for all time: The enduring insights of Thomas Hobbes

Originally published on 24 September 2022. Seventeenth-century political theorist Thomas Hobbes has a paradoxical attitude to power. On the one hand, he thinks that 'the pursuit of power, after power' is the root and stem of 'Warre', of 'every man, against every man', leaving the 'life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short'. But … Continue reading Peace for all time: The enduring insights of Thomas Hobbes →

The Playlist Episode 1 Review: The Spotify Music Network Is Not All It Seems. Is it?

Netflix has been busy. As the Crown is on the cusp of release to investigate the career of Diana Spencer, deceased ex-wife of Charles III, the new Carolingian age is anticipated by another TV series which echoes the brilliance of the 2010s series The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg as the young Mark Zuckerberg, who … Continue reading The Playlist Episode 1 Review: The Spotify Music Network Is Not All It Seems. Is it? →

Neumann’s ‘Behemoth’ and the rebirth of totalitarian-monopoly capitalism

Franz Neumann published one of the earliest books on the totalitarian state, entitled Behemoth. It is a startling representation of the divided state of Nazi Germany, one that challenges established conventions on totalitarianism. According to conventional interpretations both then and now, totalitarianism represents a singular entity, a powerful state echoing the ‘reall Unitie’ of Hobbes’ … Continue reading Neumann’s ‘Behemoth’ and the rebirth of totalitarian-monopoly capitalism →