Category: Good causes


Signing up with the Earth-loving faithful

Filed under: Good causes, Politics — Leave a comment
May 14, 2025
Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor

In pre-internet days ‘The End Of The World Is Nigh’ was the warning slogan of religious nutcases on many city high streets.

I imagine nowadays there are plentiful versions of the same message to be found in social networks. For the most part these placard-carrying, rapture-dreaming, doom-mongers of the past were harmless enough and dismissed as objects of ridicule.

Given the state of the planet right now, maybe it’s time to wonder whether they were onto something after all.

The thrust of  ‘The Rise of End of Times Fascism’ by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor certainly supports the view that the end of days are closer than ever.  These two women warriors’ have studied the rise of the far right in Trump’s America and come to the conclusion that “the most powerful people in the world are preparing for the end of the world.” 

Taylor is a new name to me but I hold Klein in such high esteem that I know she is not one to make such a dramatic claim without good reason. If anyone can be trusted to fact check it is her. Watch her eloquently  explain her treatise in measured tones in a short interview for Democracy Now to understand that she is not bent on scaremongering without just cause. The evidence she and Taylor put forward is both comprehensively damning and scary as shit.

Their thesis is as simple as it is chilling. The end times are a logical and pre-planned conclusion to the capitalist model which so brazenly divides the world into winners and losers.  The super wealthy have built their fortresses and bunkers knowing that catastrophes are the inevitable consequences of the policies Trump-Musk and their allies are pursuing so cynically. As Klein and Taylor write “The forces we are up against have made peace with mass death. They are treasonous to this world and its human and non-human inhabitants.” 

The scale of the task to turn this around is huge. I’m sure am not alone in constantly feeling that it is insurmountable.  But if there is a takeaway from Klein’s recent mind-expanding dialogue with ANOHNI, it is that we cannot let hope die without a fight. We cannot allow AI to replace human creativity, or stand by and accept that profits come before morality.  If we do either then the end truly is nigh.

Going into specifics about what action can and should be taken is not easy. Klein and Taylor don’t have all the answers but they are sure as hell posing the right questions. I am full of admiration for their courage in raising their heads above the parapet. Their rallying cry may be vague but it is an urgent one:  “we will need to build an unruly open-hearted movement of the Earth-loving faithful.”  

Sign me up.  

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

The Windrush Betrayal

Filed under: Good causes, Politics — Leave a comment
February 13, 2024

The Windrush Betrayal : Exposing the Hostile Environment by Amelia Gentleman (Guardian Faber, 2019)

Betrayal is a strong word. It means calling out disloyalty, deception and, above all, a violation of trust. It is absolutely the right word to describe the trauma and destruction of the lives for those now referred to as the Windrush generation,

Jamaica gained independence on 19th July 1962. Before that it was part of the British Empire. This meant that passengers who disembarked from the SS Empire Windrush ship at Tilbury Docks in England on 22nd June 1948 were officially British citizens.

With hindsight, the problems these passengers subsequently faced could have been forseen. Eleven Labour MPs wrote to Clement Atlee, the Prime Minister of the time, proclaiming “An influx of coloured people domiciled here is likely to impair the harmony, strength and cohesion of our people and social life and cause discord and unhappiness among all concerned.” Faced with such blatant racism, perhaps the only surprise was how long it was before the proverbial shit hit the fan.

Continue reading →
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Read More & Comment

Sam Mendes’ inedible light dish

Filed under: Good causes, Movies — Leave a comment
March 8, 2023

EMPIRE OF LIGHT directed by Sam Mendes (UK, 2022)

I’m trying to imagine Sam Mendes’ pitch to the producers for this movie.

It’s about coming to terms with ageing, loneliness, a women with mental health problems, sexual harassment at the workplace, the state of the British nation in 1980, living with racism, making meaningful life choices and nostalgia for the days when cinemas were seen as dream palaces  

A novice director would have been asked to go away and think which story he really wanted to tell.  Any one could have made for an interesting story but putting them all together results in what my Italian friend called a minestrone. She didn’t mean it as a compliment!

This is the first film Mendes has both written and directed. His track record as a director based on screenplays by others is impressive but here he is guilty of using far too many ingredients and hoping a tasty dish will be the outcome.

It’s all beautifully filmed by Roger Deakins and the actors do their level best but ultimately it’s clear they have been given more than can chew. The emphasis on gloss and sentiment renders any presentation of moral issues or social questions at best superficial , at worst embarrassingly simplistic.

Olivia Coleman as  Hilary Small  and Micheal Ward  as Stephen  make for an unlikely couple –  believable as friends but not as lovers. Their relationship and the Empire cinema in Margate where they work exist in a kind of bubble. 

It is all so quiet!  

This is 1980 but it is as if Covid lockdown regulations were in place.  At one point Hilary and Stephen take an empty bus to a deserted beach of the coastal town. In another scene , after Stephen is beaten up by a racist mob his mother, a nurse, seems to be only member of staff in the local hospital.

Where is everybody else?  

Perhaps the pandemic meant that the use of extras was problematic. There’s certainly never any danger of social distancing. Details like this matter because they render the improbable plot and questionable characterisation even more far-fetched. Mendes has plenty of theatrical experience and his story might conceivably have made a better stage play albeit without the homage to cinema-going.  

With so many spinning plates on the go, there’s a real problem of how to conclude the film. We are presented with a sequence of endings but none can provide a miracle salvation.  

Far from being served with a delicious soup, this movie is a dog’s dinner.   

Tags: , , , , ,
Comment

Limits are the gateway to the limitless

Filed under: Good causes, Politics — Leave a comment
June 1, 2021

Is there life after capitalism?

  • Tim Jackson

It is something of a paradox that by setting limitations on ourselves, we are able to appreciate our true potential all the more completely. This is an inherent argument that underpins the numerous insights contained in Tim Jackson’s inspiring book ‘Post Growth’ which comes with the alluring subtitle: ‘Life after Capitalism’.

Life during capitalism is of course the reality for we many led by the few. Jackson enlightens us on why retaining such a system corrodes the soul and how only negativity comes from rampant consumerism: “The burden of having can obscure the joy of belonging. The obsession with producing can distort the fulfilment of making. The pressure of consuming can undermine the simple lightness of being.”

Although ostensibly billed as a book about economics, this book reads more like a self-help book with an abundance of solid advice on how to live without being sucked into the frenzied machine that begs us to keep buying. A publicity campaign for an Italian suoermarket chain currently running tells customes “the more you buy, the more you save”. In truth, the more you buy the more you die a little more inside. With the built-in obsolescence that comes as standard with consumer goods, the guarantee is that no-one will ever be truly satisfied.

Jackson is eloquent on the dangers that come with the lifestyles that we are encouraged to literally buy into on a daily basis: “More is not always a virtue. Struggle is not the only basis for existence. Competition is not the only response to struggle. Drudgery is not the only reward for labour. Productivity doesn’t exhaust the return to work. Investment is not a meaningless accumulation of financial wealth. Denial is not the only response to our own mortality.”

Breaking free of the notion that happiness and fulfillment can be purchased is hard to embrace after enduring years of conditioning. It is Jackson’s belief that hope lies in future generations being educated to see that another world is possible.

At the same time he is under no illusions on how challenging this process is. He writes “If we teach our kids there are no limits at all, they will become disillusioned and dysfunctional adults. If we teach them the world is a dark and foreboding prison, they will never achieve their full potential. If we ignore the limits to economic growth, we risk irreversible damage to our lives and livelihoods. If we appear to turn back the tide of progress, we risk a return to the barbarism of the cave.”

If you are looking for concrete ways for applying economics in a way that human beings matter, Kate Raworth‘s ‘Doughnut Economics’ has more practical advice but Tim Jackson’s passionate and compassionate contribution is still invaluable.

Tags: , , , ,
Comment

Making cities more playable

Filed under: Architecture, Good causes, Parenting — Leave a comment
May 15, 2021

URBAN PLAYGROUND How child-friendly planning and design can save cities’ by Tim Gill (RIBA Publishing, 2021)

How do we make cities better for everyone?

One way is to make them more child-friendly.

Practical ways to achieve this goal are explained and explored in this book by my good friend Tim Gill.

From the case studies of cities around the world, it becomes clear that a lack of imagination is just as much of a stumbling block as a shortage of funds. Of course, austerity policies and the Global financial crisis have stretched municipalities hard but tired thinking only serves to consolidate the problems. For instance, it should be clear by now that planning cities around motor vehicles only creates more pollution, noise and stress. Too often, urban planners are unwilling or unable to think outside the box.

With specific regard to facilities for children, landscape architecture academic Helen Woolley coined the term ‘KFC Playgrounds’ to denote the standard ‘kit, fence and carpet’ approach adopted by many local authorities in the UK. A photograph of a particularly bleak example in Chesterfield, England speaks volumes:

Adjectives used in the book to describe that constitutes ‘good’ play include “messy”, “disruptive”, “social” and “spontaneous”. None of these words would be used to describe controlled activities in what amount to little more than risk-free cages. Indeed, Tim makes it clear that dedicated play areas are not the only child-friendly solution for cities. More green areas, traffic calming or wider pavements are other ways that can provide kids with the space to make their own entertainment. Safety measures are crucial but a focus on excessive supervision is often counterproductive.


Tim shows what is possible when creative thinking is combined with a willingness to bring about genuine change. The case study of Rotterdam is given as a prime example of how a failing city can be turned around. Unusually for a Dutch city, this was clogged by cars, a fact that helped earn it the unenviable title as the worst municipality for children in the Netherlands. Over a 12 year period, planners and local decision makers set about building a better environment for families. Tim devotes a whole chapter to this city and concludes that, “Rotterdam succeeded in carrying out scalable, sustainable interventions that have transformed many neighbourhoods” and that it offers “a valuable set of lessons for other cities.”


Fourteen other cities are studied to compare and contrast other planning solutions around the world. The population densities in each case are compared to Tim’s home city of London but his approach is not exclusively Eurocentric as other examples include cities in Brazil, Canada and Israel. The aim throughout is to use these various approaches to find practical solutions and the concluding chapter includes a series of ‘Tool Kits’ with suggested check lists of ideas and methods.

As for what happens next, I love the quote from Guillermo (Gil) Peñalosa that introduces the concluding chapter :”We have to stop building cities as if everyone is 30 years old and athletic”.


This book gives the ways and means for making cities more playful places for everyone. While the focus is on meeting children’s needs, the knock-on effects have benefits for all age groups since playfulness lies at the heart of community connection and civil identity

Tags: , , , ,
Comment