Culture

  • Not all American dreams go up in smoke

    In America, the modern lore is filled with the stories of startups that have come to takeover not just American life but the modern world itself. This is a realised dream for policymakers but it’s really the underlying ingenuity of American inventors that has come through to truly export new ideas to the world.

    The beginnings of this renewed wave of optimism are less austere than those even before, but have their own tinge of austerity here and there, such as the personal garage that acted as basic office space for the few calling themselves employees. This, however, was a safe incubator for the real ideas to come through to change much of the fundamentals of the emerging new world order.

    In this Americans have a quiet majority across the world, and a silent strength that enables it to govern effectively. The past orders were considered but made with poor materials and held together badly, and technology is increasing the rigidity of people’s lives beyond all expectations. The scenario is much different now, and as America has been at the forefront of its development so far, it will no doubt continue to be in future.

  • Just getting around is useful

    The free country idea is worn out due to its overuse. We forget what it’s really for. We also forget the differences. It’s not a matter of just saying it for effect, it’s a matter of making sure it makes sense.

    The point is to illustrate the choices that people have versus the conditions of consequences. This has intrigued philosophers but it also relates to our daily lives.

    A shot of a lead street to China Town, a central cultural district in London, UK.

    The freedom to move around isn’t something a criminal can take for granted. It’s a practice used by many to get businesses going, meet someone they know, or to find out something new to do.

    This is commonly how most of us have to live. It helps us find new properties, gives us new employment opportunities, and introduces us to totally new, friendly people.

    However, it also makes for an interesting exercise in self. It opens up new interests, brings into view further resources, and makes for a more satisfying experience of things that have everyday value.

  • London needs a deep rethink

    The state of affairs in London is a mixed offering if you’re looking at it in the broadest perspective. It struggles to sound out above the noise because it’s set upon by nostalgia-driven fanatics or the fantasies of the newest trend held by modernisers. It depends on who’s asking, or who’s around.

    The core of it is a problem set deep into its current fortunes. The multiplex layout of its office scene is a network of diverse activity. Yet, it doesn’t always fit together, and some is more important than an occupant next door. This sets the stage for a showdown about its ultimate purpose. How can people find each other like this?

    The parting of the crowds just to see one another – such as a new business partner, friend, or even romantic interest – has been a problem for Londoners for some time. It’s a concern that similar or complimentary activities don’t line up well enough. It’s not a gap bridged by social media or fixed by the mainstream press.

  • Trolling and occupying has to stop

    The movement of people across our towns and cities isn’t just the faces of the newest Middle East crisis. It’s the repetitive antisocial action of protest groups that have no root or moral in our society.

    They don’t support us or our institutions. They threaten our lawmakers into silence. They inhabit our neighbourhoods to make our lives a mistake. They end our hopes and crush our dreams.

    This trolling and occupying of our success stories needs to stop. They’re backward apes on a landscape of development, and activity. Their unhelpful phrases are bits of errors they manage to cobble together, but don’t inspire hope in us.

  • “Fascist Estate” teaches us about the past

    The now-defunct group “Fascist Estate” took some of its inspiration from Hitler, but not all of it. It’s believed most fascists don’t because it’s not the point. The raw energy or power that comes from their worldview is what matters. They also believe in redesigning themselves to move away from any criticisms people can make. This is reflected in a meetings culture and private dialogues held by fascists.

    Such an outlook helps them to avoid the mistakes of their forbears, and to continually improve. This is central to any fascists activity. The theory of evolution plays a large role in many of the lives of the people that I’ve come across. This is a thread that makes it all make sense.

    Ken Gott, the last and final leader of “Fascist Estate”, was himself more of a neo-fascist. It’s a term that denotes a “new” breed of fascist emerging from the old. He held to more advanced concepts in his mind than his peers. This is why he led the group for so long. He was known to be intelligent. His ideas fitted into any developing state of affairs. He always had a wise word to give.

    He had plans to change the name of the group in future. It had to progress first. He knew it had started out in an extremely simple way, and had a long journey ahead. His entrance was at a turning point when it might have done so. There were others ready to stop him. These efforts made sure he was slowed, confronted, and eventually stopped in his tracks. He didn’t turn it into a fully fledged fighting force in time.

  • Our politics still evokes strong feelings

    There’s a rumour that George Orwell wrote his famous work 1984 based on 1,984 testimonies of experiences during the Wars. He looked at archive newspaper clippings, statements, and eyewitness accounts wherever he could find them. He put these together to sum up the feelings of the day, and to epitomise the thinking of the people around him.

    His novel is a cultural work, or an artifice (as one writer described it to me) for our nation. It’s understood in our deepest, innermost thoughts and feelings. It’s believed by some that more book groups exist around this work by Orwell than any by Tolkien or similar writers.

    It hits deep, and yet it hits where it hurts for many people. The themes and images evoke something of the reality of today. It’s the enduring power of a political work. It’s not just a tale told by a Journalists eye, but it has some veracity to it because it sympathises with us. It takes on our horrors and interprets the ghouls and shadows into more.

  • Sainsbury Wing, National Gallery

  • Sex at work is wrong

    The trend of familiar sexual intercourse at work is concerning for some. “It’s the same as doing it in my living room,” one banking executive said to me. It’s disconcerting that he had to witness it at his level of work, but it’s a truism of today’s culture.

    There’s a lot happening that we don’t realise until it’s divulged. The nature of Journalism is shifting toward it, toward finding out home truths that aren’t known widely yet. This is the work of finding out the nitty gritty anywhere it’s found.

    Age Of Consent (Credit: ChatGPT).

    The fact of sex at work is only after the matter. It’s always seen as a choice by developmental psychologists, and so the offence is real if it’s felt. It’s the substance of many workplace disputes. The arguments aren’t over who, but over the matter of it.

    The privacy of home life or a hotel room somewhere else is far removed from an office block. There isn’t much to hide if it’s the scene of sexual activity between anyone that works there. It’s going to play a part in the corporate culture, if not in the workforce itself.

  • Onsite: Tate Modern, London

    Level 0 is an eerie, open space. It used to house oil. Now, it has art. This is the stuff of imagination. It prods and pokes as to its meaning. It also leads you into new realms.

    This is because the themes are dark, and ultra modern. It’s not easy to focus because it’s hard to. The artists behind these works are not trying to make life simple.

    I liked wondering around, if not just to take it in. I don’t always see the point of photographing art. It’s supposed to be itself, and not ‘framed’ in any way.

    I don’t think all of meaning is in there, as if everything is in the eye of the beholder. It’s worth checking it out, though, for a different perspective.

  • Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

  • Public art in Piccadilly Circus

  • London Rathayatra

  • Al fresco eating

    The practice of eating outside is perhaps not always refined. A quick trip to a park to eat a packed lunch is also – technically – the same thing.

    However al fresco dining as it’s called is a growing and increasingly attractive alternative.

    It’s the practice of taking yourself to an upmarket eatery and choosing from a menu and sitting outside with your order. It’s basically the same thing as indoor restaurant dining.

    The opportunities for this are limited but the potential is increasingly visible.

    There are holidays abroad on offer that mainly appeal because of the attractiveness of taking time out (literally) to eat under different skies. This is different from the same colour and decor at home.

    The potential of restaurants to provide this is limited however.

    The street space outdoors is extremely restricting in places and especially tightly packed.

    The pavements in London for example don’t offer a wide variety of opportunities for this and its public squares are often kept cleared for events or general gatherings of people such as international visitors.

    The premier nature of it is also not apparent in an often soaked local natural environment and so it makes sense to offer more tables indoors than out.

    This is a just a peculiarity of time and place.

    We all want to visit on warm summer days of brightness and sunshine.

    Yet the ordinary everyday life of any large metropolis is the stream of office workers or business people seeking a bite to eat in a location unfamiliar to the stresses and strains of modern day living.

  • Theatre in London