My mother, in her sometimes a little too plain-speaking manner, once told me that blogging was a futile pastime because no one wants to read about other people’s boring lives. She was wrong, of course. People love reading about other people’s boring lives, just as they enjoy watching other people’s boring lives on TV, and…
Tag: current affairs
Has The Whole World Gone Mad Or Are All The Mad People Just Really Loud?
Another day, another outrage. The current big hitter in the outrage stakes is the news that Alabama is banning abortion in all circumstances. As you do. Or at least, as you do when you want to roll back to the bucolic idyll of the 1950s, when men were men, and women were subservient housewives last…
It’s 2018 Folks, Here’s How to Be A Very Poor Excuse For An Activist
I blame Twitter. The endless shouting match of horror, the voices of reason and justified outrage mixed in with the voices of hate and division. The internet used to be a place where the worst thing you could do was illegally download a song you liked. Now, it feels as though to be in the…
When There Are No Words, There Are Always Dancing Penguins
It is 8.20pm, and Piglet is not asleep. Instead, he is breastfeeding. We have returned home from a day out which ended with a two hour nap (for Piglet, not me), eaten dinner and watched the end of Happy Feet. Happy Feet is a nice story, although I am disappointed that the portion I watch…
Ignoring the News: Sensible Plan or Foolhardy and Immoral?
Ladies and gentlemen, I have a new obsession. And it’s not good for my mental health. I literally cannot stop reading the Guardian on my phone. The Guardian has not, it has to be said, had a good 2016. First David Bowie died, and then everything else the Guardian holds dear disappeared into a giant…
We Must Not Let The Media Tell Us What to Think
The other day, I read an article which made me sad. You can read the original, about how Kelvin MacKenzie, a former editor of the Sun newspaper, saw fit to publicly (in the Sun) criticise Channel 4 news simply for having a presenter who happened to be Muslim-and by virtue of her wearing a…