The Great Disconnect and how to take the first steps towards living for real


We live in times that are, from one perspective, not particularly unique for all the technological veneer glossing over our daily existence. We are still flesh and blood, the same species that once lived in trees and went on to build stone circles, churches, shining office blocks. We have always had problems to overcome. But somewhere between the stone circles and the churches we started to lose our connection to the planet, and by the time the towers went up we’d altogether forgotten that we once lived in harmony with nature, and were intimately familiar with her rhythms.

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Wednesday, April 16th, 2008

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Hugo Horton wins leadership of Liberal Democrats


Has anyone else noticed that there is more than a passing resemblance between Nick Clegg, newly-elected leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, and the bumbling upper class character Hugo Horton as played by James Fleet in Dawn French’s BBC sit-com The Vicar of Dibley?

Clegg was described on the BBC1 ten o’clock news as having been chosen for his ‘youth and passion’, though how the correspondent could draw that definitive conclusion on what Liberal Democrats are looking for in a leader, when Clegg only beat Chris Huhne by an incredibly narrow 500 votes, is beyond me. I can’t imagine this man getting passionate about much of anything. At least, not convincingly. He conveys an image, rightly or wrongly, of being the kind of fella who screams ‘gosh golly, that jolly well hurt, rather a lot, actually’ instead of juicy, real-world expletives when accidentally hitting a nail into his thumb while doing a spot of DIY. But, perhaps, were we to see him talking about stamp-collecting or model trains, there may be a warmer, more involved side to him as yet undemonstrated when he has talked about any subject of relevance to the British people.

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Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

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