This week apparently saw a sea change in British politics, as the Prime Minister's key note speech at the Conservative Party Conference heralded a lurch to a more protectionist, older footing of the ideology than the one that has dominated the UK's politics for the past forty years. This 'Mayism' has elements of both the 1950s and the 1930s and shows a clawing back to national borders and to the idea of the nation-state. It is virulently not only anti-EU but apparently anti-globalisation and, opposed to the corporatism that has beset public life at every turn. The day of the 'weightless state', so beloved of Mr. Cameron is apparently over and we are marching towards the safer territory of ,flag, faith, and family'. Mrs. May's ideas seem like a confusing mixture of Left and Right policies, a lurch one way on immigration, and the other on things like executive pay, workers representatives on boards, and most of all on tax evasion on the part of corporatio...
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So I'm running quiet at the moment and have stepped away from social media. In truth, my anxiety is playing up, as a result of a number of things (the world apparently going to hell in a handbasket isn't helping, either politically, economically or in terms of our environment). I'm also just feeling tired of the sheer weight of humanity at the moment, social media is great in some ways but at the same time it feels very needy, very much like it's just people shouting out 'look at me, look at me'. I've done that too, of course, and grown tired of feeling like it's all I do. Even this blog feels a little like that. I'm tired, too, of feeling like I'm always in the wrong (which I realise is a) a sign that my anxiety is playing up and b) that I'm probably just being a massive child). Anyway, the long and short of it is that I'm stepping away, shutting down my world a little to focus on things that I hope will make me happier and health...
I must ask you to forgive me for this post as it may turn into nothing more than a stream of consciousness howl against the world. The truth is that I am sick of the way things are, and find myself inching towards a position where I wish that humanity would do something stupid and fatal, just to give the rest of the planet a break from our stupidity. Whether it's the news that the new iPhone 7 has been brought to the market by child slavery while Apple continues to make huge profits and to avoid tax wherever it can, or that the elephants' population has crashed by 60% in five years, it feels as if we are just dragging our lives out into a new age of barbarism, stupidity, and selfishness. Add in the vagaries of Brexit, which continues to be a thorn in the side of the British public (as I said in my last blog piece, I'm just bracing myself for the food and fuel crises that will hit once we actually leave the EU and prices spike) and the fact that we now see a campa...
First off let me say that I'm sorry to have been away for so long, I was busy writing (and have the first draft of a novel to start typing up tomorrow, as well as working on some new ideas), and have been neglecting my online presence quite a lot. Part of that is that I'm finding it quite depressing to look online and see the debate, if you want to call it that, on sites like the Guardian, and even Facebook, around Brexit and other things. Often, it feels as if these are niggardly, mean arguments. It feels as if we are actively setting up the next crises right now. At the same time the new century feels as if it has actually got underway and is starting to establish its own identity, in a similar fashion to the way that the events of World War One provided the 'clear blue water' between the Victorian age and the Twentieth Century. It feels as if the period of 1990 to 2016 has been a sort of 'downtime' for the human race, as we experienced the anxiety of the M...
Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time. H. P. Lovecraft Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hplovecr278136.html
As I think I've said many times before, I love Urban Fantasy. So much so that I've actually started writing some (set in Birmingham) - I won't say more but fingers are crossed that something cool will come out of it. In that spirit, I thought I'd look for some songs to serve as inspiration. Depeche Mode: World in My Eyes Enticing us to step into the dark, to see the world differently, this song seems to sum up what all fiction is all about, but because we are an urban species now, this feels like a call to see past the hoardings and shop fronts to look at the cities we live in with fresh eyes and see the magic hiding there. Step off the path you know, wander into the dark a bit and see what's lurking out there. Die Laughing: Safe Little World As a complete counterbalance to that idea of stepping into the dark, this song serves as a warning in some ways, suggesting that going too far might not do you the world of good. Clinging to some sort of normalit...
There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane peoples. Bram Stoker Read more at: http: //www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/bramstoker359617.html