Category Archives: Uncategorized

I am still reading through Arendt’s ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’. She is interesting about universal human rights, suggesting that since they are not enforceable because they are too abstract – the right to happiness might be a good example – there is no legal system that recognizes our essential humanity as such because it isContinue reading “Human Rights and Refugees”

I read a book recently that made the distinction between capitalism that added value and that which extracted it. The former might be characterised by entrepreneurial types that we can all approve of, doing their best to increase the wealth of the nation, and the latter are identified as hedge fund managers, bankers, landlords andContinue reading “Rentier Capitalism, Totalitarianism and Antisemitism”

I read a fascinating research article (Rigby et al. 2021) recently in the open access journal PLOS One (find it on google scholar) that attempted to explain the differential success, in terms of death rates, between governments in managing the pandemic by analysing data from population statistics. The focus was on Western Europe – butContinue reading “Covid and Government”

I notice the number of stand ups on TV is proliferating. They have become the new intellectuals. Is making something as serious as politics funny, OK? Do their routines feed our cynicism? Sometimes, I need the release of a good laugh at our ludicrous leaders and comedians fulfill that need. I think behind the banterContinue reading “Stand up Comedians”

As social scientists, why do we study the poor and not the rich?  What do we mean by affluence?  In our concern for the poor, we tend to study those populations in deficit but do not make connections between them and the affluent who often create poverty by engineering scarcity to secure profits.   So theyContinue reading “Inequalities”

I was discussing the notion of rationing with a colleague the other day in the context of placing limits on capitalist consumption. The hosepipe ban imposed on us by the Water Companies in the South East reminded us of rationing due to the droughts arising from the global warming of climate change. Rationing is aContinue reading “Rationing”

I have been working on a piece of research that looks into help seeking by women experiencing domestic violence. Who do they turn to when they ask for help? Often it is members of their family, friends or neighbours. Help seeking is a tricky thing to do in circumstances that risk violent repercussions and canContinue reading “Help Seeking”

When I am out, I sometimes vomit. I have thrown up in John Lewis on Oxford Street, the Central Court in the British Museum and a few times on Crouch End high street. Today I was in John Lewis food hall on Oxford Street, and experienced waves of nausea and had to stand leaning againstContinue reading “Vomiting in Public”

I am being bullied at work. I recognise the feelings of vulnerability that I experienced as a child at school. I was not very good at making friends, never with the in-crowd, and therefore vulnerable. Left out of games and not picked for school teams, I sidled around the edges of the playground trying notContinue reading “Playground Behaviour”

I bought an egg mayonnaise sandwich the other day – quite a posh one. But I didn’t enjoy it and I only ate half. It made me think as to what I was wanting and why I have a passion for egg sarnies. Mostly, I find them cold and soggy, disappointingly bland and all roundContinue reading “Egg Sandwiches”