War and violence are words that denote extreme forms of social behaviour, even referred to as asocial or antisocial behaviour, in keeping with the immoral and dehumanising acts they accompany. But this was not always the case. War and violence were once seen as far more normal parts of the human conditions than they are … Continue reading Trade makes war: A social theory of violence
Category: Politics
The realist school: An emerging paradigm
First published on 14 June 2022. Sometimes, intellectual thought undergoes a rupture that cannot be stopped. It does not matter how much you resist the conceptual tsunami, or how far you run. It will tear down what you know, and force any remaining ideas to cluster around the victorious Noah’s ark of the God-given intellectual … Continue reading The realist school: An emerging paradigm
The populist manifesto: Why policy trumps rhetoric and how Ye might synthesise Bernie and Trump’s platforms into one unity campaign for the American working class
‘I could build a new Rome in one day.’ Ye, ‘Clique’, from Kanye West Presents, Good Music - Cruel Summer As the title of this article suggests, I want to propose a populist manifesto — a manifesto to transfer power from the wealthy and powerful back to the people of the world. This does not … Continue reading The populist manifesto: Why policy trumps rhetoric and how Ye might synthesise Bernie and Trump’s platforms into one unity campaign for the American working class
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
‘This house regrets the Obama years.’ Draft speech from my university years
A draft speech for a Cambridge Union debate a while back. Thank you Mr./Mme. Speaker. Perhaps the favourite book of my teenage years was Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, given to me as it happens by my own father. I, and I think I speak for many in this room, think hope is an … Continue reading ‘This house regrets the Obama years.’ Draft speech from my university years
‘First Time’ and the albums
You were swift with your blade You lacked hesitation Your eyes were like oceans I fell till I drowned - First Time by Edmund Wilson As you may know, dear reader, my views on history and politics as expressed on this blog converge in a strange location or destination: music. And it is music that … Continue reading ‘First Time’ and the albums
Word of the Day: Du Bois
First published on my legacy blog, Principia Politica, adapted from an essay submitted while studying as a first-year undergraduate student at University of Cambridge, 2018-19. The essay was awarded the mark of first. W.E.B. Du Bois, like Steve Biko and Frantz Fanon, looks at three dimensions of racial inequality: 1) structural, 2) psychological, and 3) moral. Meet … Continue reading Word of the Day: Du Bois
life, death, and the fear of true love
i live my life in constant fear not of loss i accept that as readily a star going supernova, in the corner of a galaxy as the morning dew or the summer’s twilight blue but of death this I fear more than anything that in sleep when my guard is down the panthers hyenas devils … Continue reading life, death, and the fear of true love
Mask Off: The demonisation of Kanye West — a very provisional, tentative thought piece
Disclaimer 1: Please have sympathy on my soul, dear reader. I know this world is unkind to heretics to whatever is fashionable nowadays, but I am not exactly fashionable, and I care not for the ‘views’ of media gurus or well-spoken sophists. I am an ex-student, a lonely soul, and — much more importantly, my … Continue reading Mask Off: The demonisation of Kanye West — a very provisional, tentative thought piece
The uniqueness of genius
I’ve been thinking about genius. It is often said that genius is unique. But what does this mean? On the origins of genius: Plato and Aristotle in Raphael’s School of Athens. The uniqueness of a genius lies precisely, I argue, in their ability to see past their own uniqueness. While everyone else looks at the … Continue reading The uniqueness of genius
Edmund Wilson 