Great Expectations; the quintessential Victorian bildungsroman. It tells the story of Pip, the unlucky product of the early-nineteenth century upheaval that followed the early industrial revolution in Britain, and the unwitting victim of the pen of the great social chronicler of the age, Charles Dickens. Left almost alone after the…

I Think You Should Leave is the comedy vehicle of Tim Robinson, a former SNL alumnus, formed of a series of short, sharp absurd sketches set in everyday America, which burst through accepted social norms, as the characters engage in increasingly outlandish behaviour. Although some begin in strange circumstances, and…

Gregg Wallace; The Talking Egg; The Eggman; Gr-Egg Wallace; Gregg Wallace looks like an egg, and Gregg Wallace is everywhere, taking over; this cannot be a coincidence. …

In a previous article I introduced the concept of ‘Originism’, and in this article I will define this term, explain the significance of it, and that how this concept frames historical analysis, and constructs historical knowledge, needs to be resisted. Originism contends that a concept, idea, or process is explained…

Two books I have read recently have both been on a similar topic; the origins of current economic thinking. The first by Quinn Slobidian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism, explores the origins of the thinking, and thinkers, behind neoliberalism. The second by Phillip Mirowski, More…

The liberal, Enlightenment idea of ‘rationality’ is a concept which has been used as the external validator of human actions. If something is rational then it is deemed correct by a measure which exists outside of us, and our petty biases and emotions. Specifically, it is used as a justification…

The film Phantom Thread, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and apparently Daniel Day-Lewis’ last film is a well-made, tightly shot film that grandly showcases the entire range of Daniel Day-Lewis’ facial expressions, and truly makes one appreciate the beauty of a frying mushroom. Beyond all the well placed spoons and…

There have been a number of government policies enacted by this Conservative government which have served to illustrate the misunderstanding prevalent within the mainstream British discourse of how politics, and specifically power in politics, operates. Policies which aimed to solve a societal problem (housing shortages, unemployment, bureaucracy etc.), but proved…

There has been a trend recently of the fetishisation of “agree to disagree” politics: the perceived ability of the political system to encompass and reflect a wide range of views without recourse to violence and with free speech being the most important quality of the public discourse. Everyone is supposed…