I wrote of Tale 12 - Squire Thomas - on September 28th 2010, so my project of providing a commentary on Crabbe’s Tales is proving a protracted one, as I suspected it would! However in the 21 months since then, I have not just read the next Tale - I have read all the early …
Continue reading Crabbe – Tale 13: Jesse and Colin (and an update)
This is a piece which I was in the middle of writing in October 2010 when illness intervened; it is therefore unfinished. But I didn't want to let the part I had written go to waste! A Very Short Introduction to Anarchism by Colin Ward differs from other books in the series in that the …
Whilst I have read, or reread, many ‘real’ books in the past 20 months, the most significant development in my reading habits has been the acquisition of a Kindle. I do not intend in future to bother specifying in which format I am reading any particular book I discuss, but did want to spend some …
Any account of the past 20 months which entirely omitted what I have been watching and listening to would be absurdly incomplete. On the other hand to produce any sort of detailed list, let alone decent exegesis, would not only be impossible because of my poor memory, but would mean that I never caught up! …
There were 2 new occupations which started during my absence from blogging about which I must write. The first, and much the most significant in terms of time, was my involvement in the world of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games - and that’s the last time I intend to type out that abbreviation in …
Anyone who follows or followed this blog can hardly have failed to notice that, with one exception, it has fallen silent since October 2010. Those who have followed it previously will also know that silences are a not uncommon occurrence and are a result of my depressive episodes. However, although 2011 was a very bad …
Continue reading My Silence – Part One: Personal and Political
During the 2010 X-Factor the outstanding performer was a 16 year old from Malvern called Cher Lloyd. She brought modernity, originality and zest, as well as a fine singing voice; it was her modernity, in the form of rapping, which was new for the X-Factor (and which made it certain she would not win - …
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) is in some ways the cinematic equivalent of Byron's diaries. Of course the analogy is not too exact, as not all of the film was consigned to the flames, and we do have a remaining movie which might be described as a semi-masterpiece. But what the film would be like had Welles been …
I have decided to start posting my Miscellanies as and when they are of sufficient length, rather than waiting to the end of the month; the latter practice has resulted in some absurdly long entries. A very interesting article by John Sutherland in The Times on October 2nd. Formerly I would merely have directed readers …
In Chapter 9 Reeves is mainly concerned with the Principles of Political Economy (1848), Mill's relationship with Harriet, and the delineation of Mill's shifting position with regard to socialism. Principles of Political Economy gives a classical laissez-faire account of the economics of production, largely based on the work of David Ricardo (although Mill dedicated it privately to …
Moving Toyshop 