Iago in William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ says ‘I am not what I am’. Is anybody?

July 8, 2026

What villain actually had a good point? Iago in William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ says ‘I am not what I am’. Is anybody? At least no-one doubts that Iago is a villain. The phase ‘motiveless malignity’ was a phrase designed by the Romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge to describe him, thus not only attempting to simplify the … More Iago in William Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’ says ‘I am not what I am’. Is anybody?

Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more?

July 7, 2026

Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more? … More Let’s assume that ‘who we are’ can release an agency that shapes us beyond ‘who we are and were’ into some refined or reconfigured version of that self in the near or distant future. However, it can only do this by its response to experience. Do novelists deal with the kind of problem any more?

This blog reflects on why I enjoyed Geoff Andrews’ 2026 book ‘Radicals: The Working Classes and The Making of Modern Britain’, and why, perhaps it is a as deeply flawed a book as my enjoyment of it.

July 6, 2026

This blog reflects on why I enjoyed Geoff Andrews’ 2026 book Radicals: The Working Classes and The Making of Modern Britain, New Haven & London, Yale University Press, and why, perhaps it is a as deeply flawed a book as my enjoyment of it. I did, despite its portentous title, Radicals: The Working Classes and … More This blog reflects on why I enjoyed Geoff Andrews’ 2026 book ‘Radicals: The Working Classes and The Making of Modern Britain’, and why, perhaps it is a as deeply flawed a book as my enjoyment of it.

In order to answer this prompt, we need to think outside the idea of ‘pieces of technology’ to estimate the endurance of even such ‘pieces’: whether in manufacturing tools for industrial processes or commodities,

July 5, 2026

It’s fairly clear that the prompt question intends to imply a limit on how widely we interpret the term ‘technology’, which Wikipedia defines across its wider uses thus: Technology is the application of conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word technology can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible tools such as utensils or machines, and intangible ones … More In order to answer this prompt, we need to think outside the idea of ‘pieces of technology’ to estimate the endurance of even such ‘pieces’: whether in manufacturing tools for industrial processes or commodities,

The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still only the beginning’.

July 4, 2026

The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still … More The answer to whether one is a ‘lifelong learner’ is the title of the latest novel by Kae Tempest, namely ‘Having Spent Life Seeking’: as for what we seek to learn is it this? – ‘How to get by without ever getting anywhere, when getting through a minute was infinite; but every ending achieved was still only the beginning’.

Does the spirit need to keep alert or care less about what must happen and sleep more deeply!

July 3, 2026

Does the spirit need to keep alert or care less about what must happen and sleep more deeply! Let’s take advice from Wordsworth about the attention we give to the mutability of things in the world and how it affects our sleep in his most haunting of the ‘Lucy’ poems, A Slumber did my Spirit … More Does the spirit need to keep alert or care less about what must happen and sleep more deeply!

Invited to imagine ‘your life’ as a book, the convenient thing about what you’d call a ‘chapter’ in it, is that it ends and pauses before another chapter begins. Is that because your life changed at some point or because, after the event, you want to write it as if it had?

July 2, 2026

One of the great beauties of writing an autobiography, a written story of the life you have passed thus far, is that, in writing it, you have the advantage of interpreting it, or any part of it, with a different view of what it all means now, or should as far as you are concerned … More Invited to imagine ‘your life’ as a book, the convenient thing about what you’d call a ‘chapter’ in it, is that it ends and pauses before another chapter begins. Is that because your life changed at some point or because, after the event, you want to write it as if it had?

There is life in the old portrait yet! A visit to the Laing Art Gallery’s reframing of the ‘Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award Show 2025’

July 1, 2026

There is life in the old portrait yet! A visit to the Laing Art Gallery’s reframing of the ‘Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award Show 2025‘ This blog follows on from yesterday’s which reported a visit to The Hatton Gallery to see their new exhibition Lines of Action (see it at this link). The day-trip … More There is life in the old portrait yet! A visit to the Laing Art Gallery’s reframing of the ‘Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award Show 2025’

Reframing your Lines of Action: Is Art a way a doing this?

June 30, 2026

Reframing is defined simply enough in a mental health page at this link. Here’;s the opening. For me, the power in it lies in the avoidance of the oft used but poor term ‘positive reframing’, which assumes that negativity is only and merely a mindset and not a reality in the external factors of people’s … More Reframing your Lines of Action: Is Art a way a doing this?

I learned to see imagery, as must be the necessity in all images offered to you. Here is a test case: How do you see children flying kites?

June 29, 2026

The Kite in Time Space: describing the flying of kites in Gaza’s Great Return March of the spring of 2018 Ahmed Almaouq, explains that kites became and ‘opportunity to express defiance, even through [only symbolic ways’ citing Ramzy Baroud, going on to say himself that they became this kind of symbol because, ‘unlike the Palestinians … More I learned to see imagery, as must be the necessity in all images offered to you. Here is a test case: How do you see children flying kites?

Did Thomas Carlyle ever say: ‘Tennyson was a man solitary and sad, dwelling in an element of gloom, carrying a bit of chaos about him’.

June 28, 2026

Alfred Tennyson and Thomas Carlyle in a good representayion of the walled garden to 5 Cheyne Road the home of Thomas and Jane Carlyle., now visitable as ‘Carlyles’s House’ Thomas Carlyle, so little read today, was thought a Sage by those of his own time, and whether the quotation given above (from the usual dodgy … More Did Thomas Carlyle ever say: ‘Tennyson was a man solitary and sad, dwelling in an element of gloom, carrying a bit of chaos about him’.

The mind desires an idol and the hand confirms its birth in ticks.

June 27, 2026

My title contains a rewriting of a passage from John Calvin which elaborates his idea that the problem with humankind was an unruly mind forever looking beyond the uncertainty, from their perspective not His, of the invisible of God and his predestined plan to a palpable, tangible and visible reassurance of His presence. Mortals are … More The mind desires an idol and the hand confirms its birth in ticks.