I think the democracies have a bit of a dilemma. Do you ride it out until he goes and hope a friendlier administration gets elected or act now and create brand new alliances that exclude the US?
The problem is also that Europe isn’t immune to all the nonsense with nasties poised for power in France, Germany, Spain and the UK
How about Canada? Oh wait, the US could even engineer separatist discontent in Alberta in a grab for resources there
It’s really depressing. Especially as nobody in the democratic world has any experience of global warfare or dealing with mafias in high office
Terrible as X is in many ways, there are also serious people on there offering intelligent analysis of the awful events in Iran. Whereas BlueSky is home to a variant of The Left with zero compassion for thousands of people being murdered, instead preferring to flaunt their ‘anti-imperialist, anti-zionist’ credentials or somehow managing to compare Iranian police with ICE. I think this is a good example of why I feel more of a political orphan than ever.
That Acid Patriotism piece is excellent. So much to unpack. Isn’t it perverse how the wide eyed ideals of '89 are being imbued into some of this neanderthal, far right behaviour. The Brits have never needed an excuse to congregate and get a bit lairy and there never seemed to be much of a point to it before, but there’s a much darker edge to it now Robinson, Farage et al are embolding it all
acid house myths have a lot to answer for tbh. the idea that everyone was on the same page, that it was all kumbaya just because of pills. you were never gonna keep something like that a secret and it was inevitable that all sorts of chancers, spivs, thugs and opportunists would get drawn in
Yeah. Peace Love and Bandanas lasted what, approx. six months? And that was centered in a very small coterie of friends arguably. Tony Colston-Hayter was immediately in and exploding it for profit. Others too.
The Right have weaponised nostalgia. Rose tinted Granny Takes a Trip glasses ahoy.
Currently reading Murakami’s The Wind Up Bird Chronicle for fun, pretty good so far. His stuff can be hit or miss, but this is building up nicely. Also, I’m reading Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity. Those kinds of books aren’t the sexiest (even to tell people about lol), but it’s about how the usual standards of productivity don’t really apply to knowledge workers and I want to see if it can help me slow down and not lose my mind at work.
If you like wind up bird, his first trilogy is great (hear the wind/pinball sheep chase).
He wrote it in english then translated it to japanese to simplify his writing style, because before that he felt his style was too complex. Wild Sheep Chase is particularly good in my opinion.
I loved wild sheep chase! Hear the wind/pinball was eh for me, but if I’m not mistaken that was the first novel (or was it two in one) he wrote, so I guess he was still finding his style there. I also just read that Dance Dance Dance is apparently also part of that story? At any rate, Kafka On the Shore was what got me back into reading a few years ago.
I only mentioned the first 2 cos it’s a trilogy, but I agree that sheep chase was the highlight (I’m a completionist). Hard-boiled wonderland is great IMO too. Agree on kafka on the shore.
Exhalation by Ted Chiang might be of interest to you. Slightly more Scifi, but not in a traditional way
Problem 35 years later though is that you can’t get enough money from benefits to pay for your own flat on housing benefit or blag it on jobseekers as easily.
Back then it seemed that disenfranchisement was a party political issue- “Tories are c***s” etc,- the idea that Labour could save the country from the right wing was still a viable concept.
But 35 yrs later post New Labour (who can never be ‘new’ again, thanks to Blair) a genuine socialist alternative to the mainstream parties just isn’t viable. You can’t appeal to people’s better nature and the idea of helping others when they can’t feed themselves and the state has nothing to offer- regardless of who is in power-
Younger generations are living in this non party political state of disenfranchisement in 2026 and I think the far right appeals to the inevitable nihilism that follows and more importantly, the far right are very organised. The socialist equivalents aren’t- they can’t even agree amongst themselves.
A nice summary that (liking with a heart for that not the situation ) - too many parties now on both sides that are inevitably smaller, probably a hung parliament next time
The two fundamentals of Life, The Universe and everything are Time, and Energy. Yet, the deeply held political philosophy an economic orthodoxy, accepted by many of both Right and Left, pretty much ignores Energy altogether. I honestly thought this shit would be in the bin of history following the 2008 crash.
Cory Doctorow’s explanation of why tech companies have to keep chasing ‘the next big thing’ is interesting (‘growth market’ stocks are worth more than ‘mature market’ ones, so you always have to be promising to change the world). If true, I have no idea.
Maximise Shareholder Profit - another massive cancerous turd, squeezed out by Milton Friedman that has made Democracy a fading memory. That this stuff is still the guiding political philosophy is.
This (excellent) article got me thinking about specific examples of music that completely floor me eg 69 ‘desire’ and why it has that effect. What is that endorphin stimulus with certain sounds and frequencies?
At any rate, Kafka On the Shore was what got me back into reading a few years ago.
) - too many parties now on both sides that are inevitably smaller, probably a hung parliament next time 