Which event taking place in Britain this year promises to offer many “commercial opportunities”, serve “as an economic driver”, “contribute to the regeneration” and provide “a great opportunity to promote” a “wonderful town”? The 450th birthday of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, perhaps, or the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow? No. It’s the anniversary of the start of the First World War…
ReadTIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT IRONY? A film of a discussion at the 2013 Battle of Ideas I took part in with Edward Docx, Tiffany Jenkins and John Waters, chaired by Jacob Reynolds.
ReadMONEY ISN’T EVERYTHING. I collaborated on this piece for Perspectives, a magazine of the New Econimics Foundation. Read online here.
ReadBe honest. If thinking “I could have done that” while walking around a contemporary art exhibition is the mark of a philistine, aren’t you a philistine, too? I know I am. Much as we may know that it’s not as easy as it looks to create a decent artwork, there are times when we come across something so simple, so unimpressive, and so devoid of technical merit that we just can’t help believing we could have done as well or better ourselves. What perhaps makes me unusual is not that I entertain such thoughts, but that I did go off and try doing it myself…
ReadHuman beings are born social. We live in families, tribes and nations, and increasingly as part of an interconnected global community. The problem is that these groups make different and often competing demands on us. We may well be social animals but our habitats are changing, and we haven’t yet adapted to them.
Read