The Floor: Uncommon Ground? Part one of this essay series ended with a question: who benefits from the culture war? I have been considering that question for some time. The answer, when it comes, is not comfortable for either side. The culture war does not sustain itself. Outrage on this scale, the daily cycle of…
The Flag & The Floor: Part 1 of 2
The Flag: Icon of Tolerance or Intolerance? This essay began with a Facebook comment. During Pride Month, someone noted that the pride flag had been flown at Castle Drogo, a National Trust property in Devon. Among the responses, one stood out for being neither hostile nor celebratory. “Inclusivity should be a given,” it said. “It…
Digital Parliaments and the use of Artificial Intelligence
At the recent Commonwealth Parliamentary Association British Island & Mediterranean Region Conference held in Gibraltar, I was asked to speak on Digital Parliaments and the use of Artificial Intelligence. The workshop discussion was led by the Clerk to the Gibraltar Parliament, Mr Phillip Borge McCarthy, and had contributions from Mr Steve Aiken MLA of Northern…
People as Part of Nature, Not Apart From It: A Vision of Politics Rooted in the Isle of Man
In 1998, my family and I moved from Liverpool to the Isle of Man. We came not knowing quite what to expect, and we found something we hadn’t anticipated: we fell in love. With the people, the landscapes, the sense of safety, the particular character of life on this island. That love affair continues to…
What If Hope Is More Powerful Than Hate?
I have been thinking a lot about hate recently. How it works. How it grows. How it spreads through communities like a virus, doing its damage quietly before anyone realises the harm is already done. In recent years, it has begun to feel more and more like something we are learning to live with. Hate…
What is the Opposite of Wealth?
John Ruskin gave us a word we were not ready to hear. In Unto This Last (1860), he drew a line: “wealth” is that which sustains and enriches life; “illth” is that which diminishes it. The political economists of his day treated all production as inherently beneficial. Ruskin insisted that what mattered was not just…
The Primary Economy Is Sending Us The Bill
When the heating bill arrives and the fridge is half-empty, talk of protecting nature can feel like a luxury — a problem for another day, when there are more pressing things to worry about. It’s an understandable reaction. But why are so many households struggling to make ends meet in the first place? It’s a…
Unruly Daylight
We have learned to feed on lightning,click by clickour old animal minds startled into anger,rewardedfor the fastest heartbeatthe quickest fistthe loudest shriek. Deep within us,we crave simplicity,the lichen-covered branch of certainty.All the whileour glowing screenskeep whisperingthat every shadow is a threat,every stranger a flash of teeth.How easily we can be boughtand taught to fear. Maybe…
Little Fishes
empathy lies in tatters like blood-soaked rucksacks in a dusty crater struck dumb of youthful chatter Bombs for the children profits for the pot one hundred and fifty three tiny flames extinguished Truth traded like futures justifications bought cast into the oil-soaked dark and find the seed-bed, prepared where rage and revenge find root amongst…
The Frog and the Pond
Introduction: The Sioux nation, one of the indigenous peoples from what is now known as North America, have many proverbs, and many of them reflect on how balance is struck in nature – they do not see themselves as apart from nature but a part of nature. This particular proverb struck me deeply and I…