Author: stevendouglasblog

Born in 1954. Chequered career including Lecturer in English, Social Worker and Lecturer in Social Work. Had breaks related to mental health that also meant I worked in social care. Now retired.

The ethical ideal is not to tamper with living things but does that extend to living tissue used in experimental study of brain connections? The example of laboratory cultured  models of brain systems from living tissue

December 18, 2024

The ethical ideal is not to tamper with living things but does that extend to living tissue used in experimental study of brain connections? The example of laboratory cultured  models of brain systems from living tissue in the laboratory in order to test what the variables are that might affect mental processes, as we think … More The ethical ideal is not to tamper with living things but does that extend to living tissue used in experimental study of brain connections? The example of laboratory cultured  models of brain systems from living tissue

Reissue: ‘Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage’.

December 16, 2024

Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage. First submitted in another place: Sunday, 1 Apr 2018, 20:50 Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage. Submitted on April 1, 2018 Prompt Think about something … More Reissue: ‘Castle Hill: A site from my childhood and its development as an idea about the nature of heritage’.

Exhibiting the subject of ‘the local’ locally. What is local art? What do its images capture? A subject or a viewer?

December 15, 2024

Geoff and I are confined these days following Geoff’s serious illness, and we don’t  think we can visit the great art exhibitions, theatre, or even cinema in the cities we would take pains to go to: Edinburgh, London,  Manchester,  Liverpool, or even the nearest of the great cities, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Macbeth knowing that his agents have … More Exhibiting the subject of ‘the local’ locally. What is local art? What do its images capture? A subject or a viewer?

;…, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the miners of God ascending on it, that they may descend thereafter’.  A dream vision based on Tom McGuinness’ stained glass window on permanent display at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, ‘Steps to the Shaft’, (2002).

December 14, 2024

;…, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the miners of God ascending on it, that they may descend thereafter’.  [with apologies to Genesis 28 v. 12[1]] A dream vision based on Tom McGuinness‘ stained glass window on permanent display at Bishop Auckland … More ;…, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the miners of God ascending on it, that they may descend thereafter’.  A dream vision based on Tom McGuinness’ stained glass window on permanent display at Bishop Auckland Town Hall, ‘Steps to the Shaft’, (2002).

Reissue: A set Of Tall Building blogs from an old course.

December 13, 2024

A. Le Corbusier’s Tall Building Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles (1945-52) A844 Open Studio Set Exercise First issued in another place Friday, 12 Oct 2018, 10:00 Le Corbusier’s Tall Building Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles (1945-52) A844 Open Studio Set Exercise Photograph below: Roof level pool and children’s play areas at Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles (1945-52) from Jenkins, D. (1999) … More Reissue: A set Of Tall Building blogs from an old course.

The ‘happiness Tsar’: the ideology of well-being despite every circumstance.

December 12, 2024

Photo by Rick Pushinsky of Richard Layard: the ‘happiness Tsar’ under the Tony Blair regime from Annie Maccoby Berglof article in ‘The Financial Times’ ( September 12 2014) available at: https://www.ft.com/content/b1d0b140-3386-11e4-85f1-00144feabdc0 We hear much less of ‘happiness’ since the termination of the Blair-Brown government but perhaps it will return under Keir Starmer, who needs an ideology to … More The ‘happiness Tsar’: the ideology of well-being despite every circumstance.

A ‘wild surmise’ whilst ‘Silent, upon a peak in Darien’.

December 11, 2024

Let’s wait for a moment on a peak in Darién Province in Panama in South America. Why are we waiting? We got to Darién Province, not through its history of colonisation, though it is a fairly interesting story, having seen off the ill-fated Scottish mercantile project of subsuminf it to Scottish rule in the eighteenth   … More A ‘wild surmise’ whilst ‘Silent, upon a peak in Darien’.

Why reading matters more than just hearing stories. With the help of Father Ong, Rita Carter and, more than the rest, Jobo (Joanne).

December 10, 2024

Father Walter J. Ong shook my world in 1982 with his book Orality and Literacy, wherein he tried to show us why we, seeped in literacy (even if we cannot or will not read because the characters to be read would still surround us and puzzle us, with either their potential to polysemous mystery or … More Why reading matters more than just hearing stories. With the help of Father Ong, Rita Carter and, more than the rest, Jobo (Joanne).

‘Ecce Homo!’ To ‘have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, …’. He changed me.

December 9, 2024

Caravaggio’s Ecce Homo (1605) available via: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecce_homo Let Wikipedia have the first word of explanation of my choice of title: Ecce homo! (this links to the full Wikipedia article). And let this happen before I justify, as a non-believer and atheist, the choice of the Christian tradition (and in particular, that of the High Anglican … More ‘Ecce Homo!’ To ‘have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part, …’. He changed me.

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show”. 

December 8, 2024

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show”. (Charles Dickens: the first sentence of David Copperfield (1849-50)). Visualizing the future self and the use of memories of past visualisations when that future presents itself. I have always … More “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show”. 

The Rattle Of A Simple Man: or resetting a jelly that has already liquefied.

December 7, 2024

Charles Dyer’s play, later a film, The Rattle f a Simple Man tells the story of a Northern mill worker who goes to London to find out if he is up to the job of bringing charismatic success into his life. It is success as a lover he seeks and hence that is a big … More The Rattle Of A Simple Man: or resetting a jelly that has already liquefied.