Liberalism has been under attack for some time now, from both the right and the left. It has declined not just because of the rise of authoritarian powers such as Russia and China, but also because of the turn towards populism, illiberalism and nationalism within longstanding liberal democracies such as the US and India eralism… Continue reading Francis Fukuyama: Putin’s war on the liberal order
Ev
Rebecca Solnick So yesterday I had a post about climate change and fossil fuel (I have a lot of them, as you might have noticed) and someone got all over me about minerals for batteries, and I've heard a lot about that side of things so I looked it up. Just as I expected, the… Continue reading Ev
I will not
I will not live in London againor be a millionaire as I once was A far off dream of Georgian town house. Nor will I be a waitress in the Turks Headwho with just an expression on her faceGrounded us hereOver 20 years ago I knewI would not have the hipson which a baby jigsI… Continue reading I will not
Ukraine, Nato and Arne Naess
Yesterday, Russia invaded Ukraine. There is no other way of saying it. Except if you are Putin, in which case Russia began to 'liberate Ukraine from Neo-Nazi's and drug addicts'. I listened to Nick Robinson talk with someone on Radio 4, who quoted someone else (yes names well forgotten), who said, back in 1990's, the… Continue reading Ukraine, Nato and Arne Naess
How the Light Gets in Winter
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Films with Michael
Le WeekendWith Jim Broadbent and Lindsey Duncan - re-kindling their long marriage, brilliantly performed. A dinner party with a bumped into colleague is the turning point. Broadbent and the stonned son conversation in a side room, leading directly to his declaration King Richard An overbearing bully; a distraction from his daughters’ careers: all of this… Continue reading Films with Michael
North Norfolk for Michael’s 87th birthday
On the dull overcast journey, across hedge less monoculture fields, we traced Michael’s birthday back in years. Last year in Magnolia house - appropriately his last birthday there, lockdown continued and I’d secretly orchestrated a manifestation of his play unbelievable. He and Gabrielle and the dogs sat in the back sitting room watching, Ben, Juliet… Continue reading North Norfolk for Michael’s 87th birthday
Kinda at Rumi away weekend – Jan 2022
Our last, and first, Kinda away weekend, (which in my day was known as Works Outing), was more than two years ago, at Breathing Space, Hickling Broad on the 1st of February 2020, (remember those days, when we'd not yet heard of COVID, while in China....). Here our tribe gathered, the first gathering, to find… Continue reading Kinda at Rumi away weekend – Jan 2022
Svarlbard
Over the past three decades, Svalbard has warmed twice as quickly as the rest of the Arctic region and seven times the global average.
Vijay
Our dearest Rachel,It is always a pleasure to hear from you,and to read your annual account for the past two years. Quite like you we revelled in the first year, with all the similar feelings and experiences, no traffic, no people, with the exception of not listening to any news. Finances were surely a worrying concern,and now… Continue reading Vijay
Kalikellett 