Clik here to view.
Arms, Legs…Limits!
Check out this brief video. It’s at the top of the homepage for the upcoming ‘National Achievers Congress’ in Singapore (where I currently live)… Now take a look further down the NAC homepage below the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Politicising Transition: uniting environmental and social justice through...
In this two-part blog, I critique the depoliticised, liberal nature of a disproportionately middle-class-led environmentalism epitomised by the Transition Network. I argue that these movements’...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Denouncing the false god of Work
Before you read this blog, I’m going to ask you to take about five minutes to watch a short video and read a short newspaper opinion piece. First, check out this brief video. It’s called ‘Max’s Story’...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In Defence of Marxism…and Marxists
Dear blog-reader, Thank you for reading my blog and sorry I’ve not produced anything so far this year. It’s been a transitional period with my family and I relocating back to Oxford from Singapore....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The ‘FIMO’ Phenomenon
Serendipity in plasticine I was at my friend and neighbour’s house one afternoon after school recently. I have three kids, she has four. It was lively. They were all playing with this nice plasticine...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Deconstructing and (Re?)constructing Democracy Part Two
Post Two: The wider power inequalities undermining democratic politics in the UK This is the second of a three-part blog about deconstructing and (re?)constructing democracy in the UK. In my previous...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Now is the time to love, to learn, and to listen; Now is the Freireian moment
I have come to realise that, whatever my political future holds, I will never be a good strategist. I am too emotional, too raw. For me, to cite the oft-used phrase coined by Italian philosopher...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shattering the Spectacle
I‘m recently back from a two-day workshop for social scientists in Edinburgh. On day one, I gave a talk with the title of ‘Emancipatory Social Science: from monological to dialogical communication’. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Pint’s Half-Full! On knowledge, freedom, and unravelling hegemony, Part...
From the psychology of pint-buying to a political theory of hegemony In the previous post, my curious discovery that I couldn’t say with certainty why I acted the way I did regarding buying drinks in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What does this Sun/Women’s Own email really show us? And what can we do about...
Dear reader, It’s been an interesting 24 hours since my friend Kate Evans (@iamkateevans) showed me an email by a contributing editor to The Sun newspaper and Women’s Own magazine asking charities for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Working tax credits: the real questions, some real answers
What is ‘hegemonic power’? One central element of hegemonic power is the power to make the root (systemic) causes of our problems invisible and largely unspeakable and unthinkable. Instead, all our...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knowing our left from our right, Part Two: the states-versus-markets red herring
Yesterday, I started this series of posts by saying that, while anything other than overtly racist right-wing parties and movements are described merely as ‘centrist’ or ‘right-wing’, in the UK...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knowing our left from our right, Part Three: Social justice and human freedom
In the first of these posts about the left-right divide in politics, I argued that the media portrays anything even remotely left of centre as ‘extreme’, ‘hard’ or ‘far’ left. I said that the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knowing our left from our right, Part Four: Complexity versus simplicity
In this series of posts about the left-right divide in politics, I began in the first post by arguing that the media portrays anything even remotely left-wing as ‘extreme’, ‘hard’, or ‘far’ left. In...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knowing our left from our right, Part Five: Get real, get utopian!
Hi! Welcome to this series of posts about the left-right divide in politics. Here’s the story so far… In the first post, I argued that the media portrays anything even remotely left-wing as ‘extreme’,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Knowing our left from our right, Part Six: human nature and society
Dear readers, This is the final post in a six post series exploring the differences between the left and right in politics. Here’s a brief recap of the argument so far… In the first post, I argued that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On value and values
Hi there, I’ve decided to produce a Soundcloud podcast of each blog I write. If you’re like me, you enjoy listening to things as much as reading them. I also spend a lot of time cooking and cleaning,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is austerity ideological?
Hello! I know this post isn’t immediately topical, particularly with the focus on the fallout from the ‘Panama Papers’. But, sadly, austerity remains topical after eight long years now and it’s a point...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On Jeremy Corbyn: let’s end cynicism and embrace (critical) hope
Dear friends, Feel free to listen to a recording of this blogpost above… I just want to make three points about Jeremy Corbyn and his re-election. I want to argue the following: (1) Ultimately, we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Let’s call time on Liberalism! We need to talk about Capital
Dear friends, I wish each and every one of you a very happy and healthy new year! I’m sorry I haven’t been blogging recently. My last post explains why, but I hope to be back into the swing of blogging...
View Article