Freedom has little use for those who prefer to be bound without choosing and committing to the bonds that matter.

May 5, 2025

My convoluted title is meant to avoid the sense that bonds are unimportant and contrary to what freedom is. Freedom and bondage are only binary contraries either to: Freedom is oft best experienced and compromised in relationships. The death of love of any kind is usually the accompaniment of the plea of one person on … More Freedom has little use for those who prefer to be bound without choosing and committing to the bonds that matter.

‘But there is no sign of the boy.’ The coming to age of a queer boy told in the third person captures the alienation possible in that experience but that may be all it seeks to show! This is a blog on Michael Amherst (2025) ‘The Boyhood of Cain’.

May 4, 2025

‘But there is no sign of the boy.’ The coming to age of a queer boy told in the third person captures the alienation possible in that experience but that may be all it seeks to show! This is a blog on Michael Amherst (2025) The Boyhood of Cain London, Faber & Faber. I sighed … More ‘But there is no sign of the boy.’ The coming to age of a queer boy told in the third person captures the alienation possible in that experience but that may be all it seeks to show! This is a blog on Michael Amherst (2025) ‘The Boyhood of Cain’.

The serious games queer art plays: this blog is a reflection on a brilliant article in this month’s ‘Gay & Lesbian Review’ by Joseph Shaikewitz.

May 2, 2025

The serious games queer art plays: this blog is a reflection on a brilliant article in this two-monthly offering of ‘Gay & Lesbian Review‘ by Joseph Shaikewitz. The article to which this blog owes everything: in Gay & Lesbian Review May – June 2025 Volume XXXII, Number 3, pages 32 – 35. The present two-monthly … More The serious games queer art plays: this blog is a reflection on a brilliant article in this month’s ‘Gay & Lesbian Review’ by Joseph Shaikewitz.

Of course it is Donald Trump! But why argue with a manipulator. Instead here’s a political parable. ‘…, dost thou know / Wherein our true strength lies? Not in the army? / Nor yet in Polish aid, but in opinion – /Yes, popular opinion’.

May 1, 2025

Of course it is Donald Trump! But why argue with a manipulator. Instead here’s a political parable. Pushkin’s namesake in his play ‘Boris Godunov’ threatens the Russian state with a fundamental question about the true nature of political power, as Pushkin saw it in the early nineteenth century: ‘…, dost thou know / Wherein our true … More Of course it is Donald Trump! But why argue with a manipulator. Instead here’s a political parable. ‘…, dost thou know / Wherein our true strength lies? Not in the army? / Nor yet in Polish aid, but in opinion – /Yes, popular opinion’.

‘The Story of the Stone”: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman.

April 30, 2025

“The Story of the Stone: Tales, Entreaties & Incantations“: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman I have already referred to this set of stories in a past blog [see this link to read if you wish]. … More ‘The Story of the Stone”: the artist and shaman come nearest to us in sharing an acknowledgement of the opaque density of our experience.  New short stories by James Kelman.

Maybe the performance of difference need not involve ‘camping’!

April 29, 2025

This WordPress prompt ought to have been a gift to me – with a long history in LGBTQI+ politics, the word ‘camp’ has always had a history to reclaim. But to say ‘word’ in description of the term ‘camp’ here is not enough. I got stopped in my tracks from answering this question as I … More Maybe the performance of difference need not involve ‘camping’!

‘Only connect’ said E.M. Forster but what madness results. This blog reflects on Roland Barthes [trans. Richard Howard] (2000) ‘Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography’.

April 28, 2025

‘Only connect’ said E.M. Forster but what madness results. Begin by making connections between these two photographs and then with them. Roland Barthes [trans. This blog reflects on Roland Barthes [trans. Richard Howard] (2000:3) Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography, Vintage Press Edition. Connectivity was always a thing I valued – in the connection for instance … More ‘Only connect’ said E.M. Forster but what madness results. This blog reflects on Roland Barthes [trans. Richard Howard] (2000) ‘Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography’.

‘I began doing away not only with quotation marks to distinguish dialogue but any means at all of distinguishing dialogue from narrative’. No words that matter in the way the question suggests can really be called a ‘quote’.

April 27, 2025

The prompt I chose today asks this: ‘Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?’ If I am live my life with anything like significant assistance of a few linked words, then those words can not really be described as a ‘quote’, for whatever the specificity of their individuality … More ‘I began doing away not only with quotation marks to distinguish dialogue but any means at all of distinguishing dialogue from narrative’. No words that matter in the way the question suggests can really be called a ‘quote’.

‘… caught in improper possession of another person’s property’.  Abdulrazak Gurnah (2025) ‘Theft’ is a novel in a great tradition of ‘David Copperfield’ & ‘Great Expectations’.

April 26, 2025

‘… caught in improper possession of another person’s property’.[1] This blog examines the sensibility of the outsider’s desire to belong and have no belongings. Abdulrazak Gurnah (2025) ‘Theft‘ is a novel in a great tradition of ‘David Copperfield‘ & ‘Great Expectations’. Karim, whose growth to total self-possession makes him the main contender pretender to be … More ‘… caught in improper possession of another person’s property’.  Abdulrazak Gurnah (2025) ‘Theft’ is a novel in a great tradition of ‘David Copperfield’ & ‘Great Expectations’.

Voting may not often change anything, but we have to hope it might.

April 25, 2025

The answer is YES. but neither person nor party can give any guarantee of fulfilling any intentions you had in voting for them, even if you had any intentions. Indirect democratic politics is a blunt tool that is barely even a record of popular opinion and few ruling parties receive a majority of votes in … More Voting may not often change anything, but we have to hope it might.

To My Husband Geoff: on his 84th Birthday today with LOVE ever and always.

April 24, 2025

Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you. To find one thing amongst the many giftsThat you bring to me is like parsing poems:What did Wordsworth simply mean when he said:’There is a blessing in this gentle breeze’.Whatever he meant, you are to me thatWind of change that charges up the emptyBattery … More To My Husband Geoff: on his 84th Birthday today with LOVE ever and always.