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Category Archives: Policy commentary
Industrial wreckage to picturesque heritage.
Funny how it works. The tiny Aegean island of Skyros (population 3000 today, probably never above 5000 and that peak reached in pre-history) has the standard order white-walled streets, turquoise water, rocky slopes and clanging goats. It is difficult to … Continue reading
Winning for ‘Switzerland’
In case you missed it on FB and Twitter, on Saturday, at Get Writing 2012, run by the estimable Verulam Writers Circle, I won their short story cup. And here it is, in all its shiny glory. I am so … Continue reading
Posted in On writing, Policy commentary
Tagged Ebury Publishing, Morgen Bailey, Twitter, Verulam Writers Circle, Writers Resources
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Future ETA.
HS2. Speed over quality. Work over community. So old money.
Lies, secrets and spin.
I’m a straightforward person who tells it as I see it. You are a master of spin (but may be well intentioned). She works in marketing. And they are politicians. We have lost sight of the hypocrisy of our judgements … Continue reading
Artists needed, to shovel snow
Feynman and Le Guin The week of the apparent discovery of superluminal motion is a good moment to reflect on how we move beyond our common assumptions. We need new paradigms, as the Dark Mountain project so cogently argues. Many … Continue reading
Posted in Policy commentary
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Libraries in the digital age
The future of the public lending library is hot news. The sleepier corners of quiet suburban streets play host to government ministers and fervid journalists arguing that the onslaught on these minor temples of literacy must be stopped. Heckling protestors … Continue reading
Posted in Policy commentary, Publishing
Tagged Amazon Kindle, E-book, Library, Public library, Publishing
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Human Planet: must do better.
Human Planet is a hunting film, about men killing animals in dangerous and exotic ways. There’s an interest in that, watching someone spear fish 20m down, using one breath for a three minute hunt. Or the appalling dangers faced by … Continue reading
Posted in Policy commentary, Reviews
Tagged Bajau, BBC, Conservation International, Coral Triangle, Human Planet, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, seafaring
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Spec, fic, state
In Transition, in passing, Iain Banks self-reflexively talks of the spec fic context. Let us expand this thought from the ubercoolmeister. I have written elsewhere about the definitions and opportunities of the genre, on the lovely hagsharlotsheroines.com website. The lazy … Continue reading
Posted in On writing, Policy commentary
Tagged David Mitchell, Gwyneth Jones, Iain Banks
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Public services and public leadership
It was a long day yesterday to go to the Public Services Trust 2020 conference held at the RSA. (Hence no blog.) It was an interesting day, with lots of discussion about the future of service delivery and its relationship … Continue reading
Posted in Policy commentary
Tagged Big Society, Local government, National Health Service, New Public Management, NHS, Public services, RSA, Welfare
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icon (εἰκών)/vanity (καθομιλουμένη)
‘Icon‘ is one of the most overused terms in 21st century English. Bands, buildings, comedians. You name it, someone somewhere has labelled it iconic. Of course, for anyone in the place-making business, ‘icons’ are themselves iconised by Gehry’s Bilbao Museum. Everybody wants … Continue reading →