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.

Shoulder to shoulder with the shared values of a ruling group who believe might is right. The endgame begins with a Trump of Doom.

November 6, 2024

There is something of the apocalyptic in the image above of Trump supporters wrapped in the flag outside the Trump residendence in Florida, as if the official worship of power and the rule by the idiom of ‘might is right’ had been established, or as Gladstone said of Bourbon rule in The Two Sicilies, ‘ … More Shoulder to shoulder with the shared values of a ruling group who believe might is right. The endgame begins with a Trump of Doom.

Bridging Gaps in Personal Learning No. 2 : This blog is based on thinking about the debt of influence of Francis Bacon to his painting hero, Vincent Van Gogh, as a portraitist.

November 5, 2024

Bridging Gaps in Personal Learning No. 2: This blog is yet again an attempt to understand my own process of  learning. It is based on thinking about the debt of influence of Francis Bacon to his painting hero, Vincent Van Gogh, as a portraitist. I start with the configuration of that debt by Rosie Broadley … More Bridging Gaps in Personal Learning No. 2 : This blog is based on thinking about the debt of influence of Francis Bacon to his painting hero, Vincent Van Gogh, as a portraitist.

THE ENDLESS PASSAGE BETWEEN MODULES to someone’s fate. IS  MODULARISATION REALLY COMMODIFICATION?

November 4, 2024

Providing Care That is Right the First Time That seems a laudable aim wereIt not a label tearing from the wallthat once told people how far theyshould distance themselves from each other.The other in this case is a promisealso peeling at its edges that:We are committed to Safe Compassionate joined-up care. And then just outside … More THE ENDLESS PASSAGE BETWEEN MODULES to someone’s fate. IS  MODULARISATION REALLY COMMODIFICATION?

On the virtue  of friends who don’t  enter in too far and love with laughter.

November 3, 2024

Yesterday good friends, Rob, Linda and their daughter, Eleanor, visited my husband in hospital and cheered him up with stories and banter and useful information. They brought a card in the right spirit, and I have no doubt that made the queen lurking in my husband assert herself. It was a clever card with even … More On the virtue  of friends who don’t  enter in too far and love with laughter.

Bridging Gaps in Personal Learning: This blog is an attempt to understand my own process of  learning. It is based on a highly situated reading of Émile Zola’s ‘The Sin of Abbé Mouret’, translated by Valerie Minogue

November 2, 2024

Bridging Gaps in Personal Learning: This blog is an attempt to understand my own process of  learning. It is based on a highly situated and contextualised reading of Émile Zola’s The Sin of Abbé Mouret (La faute de l’abbé Mouret) translated by Valerie Minogue (Oxford World Classics ed.) Oxford, Oxford University Press, an edition recommended … More Bridging Gaps in Personal Learning: This blog is an attempt to understand my own process of  learning. It is based on a highly situated reading of Émile Zola’s ‘The Sin of Abbé Mouret’, translated by Valerie Minogue

This blog ponders on the latest John Banville crime novel:  John Banville (2024) ‘The Drowned’ London, Faber.

November 1, 2024

Do we guess when Detective St. John Strafford’s consciousness notices that there ‘was something odd about him today’  with regard a long standing character in the Quirke stories by Benjamin Black and the Quirke and Strafford stories of John Banville, Chief Inspector John Hackett,  that Hackett is about to depart his place in the series … More This blog ponders on the latest John Banville crime novel:  John Banville (2024) ‘The Drowned’ London, Faber.

In lieu of a blog in a time of confusion: The Next blogs – the plan.

October 31, 2024

The Next blogs – the plan: I intend to keep up the blogs, lest the pin of my mental world is withdrawn in the present crisis in my husband’s health. For Geoff has become increasingly breathless over a week or so – the GP surgery thinking that at 83 all that was required was consultation … More In lieu of a blog in a time of confusion: The Next blogs – the plan.

‘On reflection the use of impasto is as good a place as any to start with Van Gogh’. Random thoughts about the current National Gallery exhibition.

October 30, 2024

In the second part of my blog on my birthday visit to London, I predicted what I might write about when I wrote a second blog on it  [the first is at this link] based on seeing the work ‘in the flesh’.  Saying it was ‘almost certainly the strongest art exhibition I have ever seen’ … More ‘On reflection the use of impasto is as good a place as any to start with Van Gogh’. Random thoughts about the current National Gallery exhibition.

‘Screen time’. Another red herring of an issue in a world where time is seen as a commodity for consumption.

October 29, 2024

Who would have thought that ‘screen time’ is a phrase that could be discussed on Wikipedia but it is!. That discussion focuses on the bad effects on the developmental physical and mental health of children but adults are considered as in this extract, which makes the point that screen time for adults is divided between … More ‘Screen time’. Another red herring of an issue in a world where time is seen as a commodity for consumption.

‘[The moon rises at back, mounts in the sky, stands still, shedding a pale light on the scene.]’ In the Theatre Royal Haymarket production of ‘Waiting for Godot’, is the unlabelled moonlight compensation enough for an absenting a visible moon?

October 27, 2024

I looked at the play Waiting for Godot in an earlier blog (available at this link). I often do this, preparing myself by looking at my expectations of a production based on knowledge of its text and the prognostications of such critical review material of the actual production that I have seen. It amuses me … More ‘[The moon rises at back, mounts in the sky, stands still, shedding a pale light on the scene.]’ In the Theatre Royal Haymarket production of ‘Waiting for Godot’, is the unlabelled moonlight compensation enough for an absenting a visible moon?

The Old Man’s Birthday Trip  continued at the age of 70 years and two days.

October 26, 2024

Last night ended getting lost in Elephant and Castle and this morning I awoke to the noise of the Waterloo main line below my ninth floor windows at the Travelodge tower hotel, after what was a fairly succesful negotiation of London buses with my old man’s bus pass, if not the backways of the Elephant … More The Old Man’s Birthday Trip  continued at the age of 70 years and two days.