David Runciman on what the Covina-19 crisis reveals about democracy, politics, power and order: Under a lockdown, democracies reveal what they have in common with other political regimes: here too politics is ultimately about power and order. But we are also getting to see some of the fundamental differences. It…
Read More
May 29th. Bioshock Trilogy. Switch. I will be returning to Rapture!
Read More
George Monbiot on the Covid-19 wake-up call: …this could be the moment when we begin to see ourselves, once more, as governed by biology and physics, and dependent on a habitable planet. Never again should we listen to the liars and the deniers. Never again should we allow a comforting…
Read More
Jim Crace excellent political sketch on Boris and the boys’ performance: It’s not just Boris Johnson’s fundamental lack of plausibility that is the problem. At Thursday evening’s daily Downing Street press conference, he seemed to have totally lost the plot. After a few days of trying to do “serious face”…
Read More
Knowledgeable piece about Robin and – correctly – asking why there are so few female Robins: Why we’ve not had more female Robins – or better served ones – is a symptom of a much wider problem. Of the 11 writers announced as contributing to DC’s upcoming anniversary issue for…
Read MoreHeartfelt piece by headteacher Jules White in today’s Guardian Schools need more cleaners to complete regular hygiene work and deep cleans if there is a short-term closure. So give us access to agencies who must prioritise schools… Sats tests in primary schools should be abandoned in the current circumstances. We…
Read More
Nesrine Malik argues that the British government’s exceptionalist approach to the Covid-19 crisis should be scrutinised and not simply followed because of British deference: It is a dangerous British trait to fall obediently into line behind those in power when things are uncertain. When the chips are down, a class…
Read MoreFarhad Manjoo in the New York Times suggests that the Coronavirus pandemic could lead to fixes to society: “As the coronavirus spiders across the planet, I’ve been thinking about the illness as a very expensive stress test for the global order — an acute, out-of-nowhere shock that is putting pressure…
Read More
Educational Inequality. Fiona Miller in The Guardian: The process of narrowing gaps in educational attainment due to class background is grinding to a halt and will now take 560 years to close, according to the Education Policy Institute
Read More