Patrick Hayes
Time to think
In many ways the mood was similar to that at the early stages of the 1 April G20 protests: there was a strong mix of curiosity and anticipation, but no-one really knew why they were there. As one attendee exclaimed to her friends, ‘with a crowd like this, with the economy as it is and with Zizek, Badiou, Negri, Ranciere all talking about Communism… Something’s got to happen’.
Fishing in the afternoon
A rare glimpse into the world of work forgets to reflect on its nature.
Regression to the Middle Ages?
There is, Livingstone declared, ‘no right to follow the Atkins diet’, and consume ‘excessive amounts’ of meat.
Hitchcock’s choices
To say that Stewart is miscast is to make him an unfair scapegoat for a script that sees him u-turn from espousing Nietzschean theories of superior beings being able to justly murder inferiors to an adoption of mainstream American values
Attitudes to China
A recent survey suggests the Western public may be less worried about the rise of China than the ‘China-bashing’ media suggest, and more optimistic about its future development.
Cloud Atlas - (Man Booker Prize 2004, Longlist)
If the Booker prize was awarded for sheer effort and ambition, then David Mitchell should win hands down. In over 550 pages, Mitchell jumps across centuries from character to character, intertwining their fates and linking their lives in real, or (postmodern) symbolic ways.
