Category: Counter-Heritage

  The Stroud-water Food Riots and the Hangman’s Noose Prologue: Gilbert White, August 1st 1786: ‘The poor begin to glean wheat. The country looks very rich, being finely diversified with crops of corn of various sorts, and colours.’ John Keats, To Autumn – 18 read more

The View From The Rock in NYC The sign said that you could ‘Travel anywhere free in Manhattan for ten dollars’, The best example of Marcusian unification of opposites, Marxian false consciousness, and oxymoronic logic I’ve seen anywhere; But those advertisements help so read more

So, will this fog be gone by mid-day? No, I wouldn't think so. Won't the sun burn the fog off? Not really. No.

Off we go.

Cows, pastures, more cows, and a few sheep later. I've enjoyed yet another day of rainy-day walking in the local area. My guests apologize again for the bad weather but I point out that no weather is bad weather when you're from Boston, and it's January. Actually I'm from north of Boston. North enough of Boston to think that fog, rain and temperatures above freezing are considered nice weather. I am talking REALLY enjoyable. There's no ice underfoot and I can feel my face. To me that's nice weather for January. read more

It was the most perfect equinoctial evening, But with the six o’clock sun in drivers’ eyes, I decided to walk rather than cycle – for a change, And chose to walk to Rodborough Church, Rather than straight up the hill to the common; I sauntered along Spillmans to r read more

THE SPECKLED MONSTER Born in 1749, Edward Jenner lived In that time of calendrical change: A Julian age of Pope and happenstance (Where African slaves were mocked For their
Creole medicine and smallpox cures), And a Gregorian world of Science, Revolution, Reason and Exp read more

We associate Fascism with late nineteenth century ideology, And twentieth century practice in Europe and South America: The cult of the leader; control of the media; control of the economy; The cult of war; of racism; of the survival of the fittest; of the military; Of read more

I think we are witnessing a peculiarly English/British form of Fascism – We have the civilised classical Johnsonian face, The Govian exhortation to ignore the ‘experts’, The atavistic appeal to emotion, Farage and his decent, ordinary people Fighting without bulle read more

Two pieces – firstly a performance piece for Stroud Valley Arts and An Evening with Elvis; secondly a more discursive piece for the page. A tale of why I loathe Ye Archers By William Shakespeare Archers! Vile Archers! Noisome effusion of middle England on the airw read more

When the weather’s against you, you have to explore inside the house: Psychokitchenography/Mythokitchenography When you stay in a converted barn worth a million pounds, A weathered old long red brick structure: The Threshing Barn (‘Sleeps 12. Large barn conversion, on t read more