SubstackLike a number of other Medium writers, I’ve made the jump to Substack.Nov 23, 2024Nov 23, 2024
A Few Words To Aspiring Journalists[lightly edited version of an introduction to a local journalism workshop in my very small community]Nov 22, 2024Nov 22, 2024
Dividing Lines: beyond the Left/Right binaryReams have been written — and years of oratory delivered — in political debates between “left” and “right,” between “conservative” and…Nov 3, 20241Nov 3, 20241
The Ethno-State: blessing or curse?[Note: while I was struggling for days on end with this article, editing and dithering, I noticed that someone else has been thinking along…Dec 18, 20232Dec 18, 20232
Yet Another Not A Drag Queen… some musings on moral panics, projection, and patriarchy.Nov 20, 20232Nov 20, 20232
The Bronze Age BacklashThe New Far Right International — perhaps we might call it the International Fascist Tendency? — is making headlines worldwide. While…Nov 18, 20233Nov 18, 20233
Unstable Diffusion: stochastic terrorism and turbulent priestsWell, by now everyone’s heard about it and everyone’s talking about it. In Lewiston, Maine (Maine!) an angry white man — with an online…Oct 28, 20235Oct 28, 20235
In Praise of My Native TongueEnglish is a lot like a rambling old mansion that has been added on to ad hoc, over generations upon generations… so that every possible…Oct 25, 20231Oct 25, 20231
Screening Sociopaths (another modest proposal)Ingredients of this essay include Fallon’s The Psychopath Inside (a very interesting book, by the way, which I highly recommend) — and…Oct 23, 20233Oct 23, 20233
A Headline From Our Timeline? or, How Weird Can Things Get?Young Dirtifarians at Tampa Rally — Midjourney, prompt by authorSep 2, 20231Sep 2, 20231
The Politics of YeastIn the last couple of years the US Far Right seems to be suffering from a full-blown gender panic attack. Their outrage at any deviation…Mar 20, 2023Mar 20, 2023
The Woke ScareElon is not the only right-leaning member of the online chatterati experiencing a frisson of existential fear as he contemplates…Jan 22, 20232Jan 22, 20232
Popper’s Paradox and our Present PredicamentKarl Popper is famous for a number of publications and ideas, but the one that has lodged most firmly in my head over the years is what is…Nov 7, 20222Nov 7, 20222
The Message Beneath the SleazeOkay, so the whole world now knows that Elon Musk, King of Impulse Control Issues, tweeted a sleazy tabloid allegation about the attack on…Oct 31, 20221Oct 31, 20221
Couldn't agree more.You'll probably catch some flak for this piece -- but it needs saying.Oct 27, 2022Oct 27, 2022
I’m Curmudge-only Sayin’OK, I’m an old fuddy-duddy, or perhaps a practising peevologist (which is not, by the way, anything to do with urinary specialisation in…Sep 29, 20222Sep 29, 20222
PHRF for Humans? A Modest Proposal for non-Binary Fairness in SportsThere seems to be a whole lot of argle-bargle going on right now about “trans women in sports,” i.e. whether M-to-F trans people should be…Mar 29, 20224Mar 29, 20224
