Two Brexit links and a clutch pointing to pieces about Pokémon GO, plus other things that I’ve found interesting or stimulating over the past seven days. Thanks as always to those who have pointed me towards some of them, via Twitter and in other ways, and apologies for the absence of appropriate name-checks.
• England’s last gasp of empire: Ben Judah for The New York Times nails the idea that this is the way the Empire ends, most certainly not with a bang but with the nastiest of whimpers…
• Liberalism after Brexit: … and Will Davies extends his detailed, rigorous analysis of the fundamental ideas behind Brexit – this is another essential article by him. read more »
Academic open access publishing is a complex issue but developments in the field mean that an increasing number of titles are available as freely downloadable e-books. I think one of the services that this blog can provide is highlighting a different volume each week, beginning today with the collection The British monarchy on screen, edited by Mandy Merck. Manchester University Press published this as a hardback in February at the eye-watering price (sadly, quite usual now for academic volumes) of £70. But now thanks to Oapen online library and MUP it can be legitimately accessed here as a free downloadable .pdf. read more »
In the medieval streets of the French town of Cahors yesterday, son Nick and daughter Kate were delighted to teach their grandmother Beryl how to catch a zubat. Of course Pokémon GO hasn’t been released in Europe yet but any self-respecting owner of a smartphone already has a grey-market app. The pesky Pokémons also seem to have been widely released across the continent. Like much of the rest of the world, I’m modestly fascinated by this vivid variant of augmented reality. And oddly enough, one of the things it immediately reminded me of was the recent arts event ‘we’re here because we’re here’ (more simply, #wearehere), commissioned by 14-18 NOW to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme.
One of the many things that surprises me about the loose critical consensus about contemporary cinema is that Andrew Dominik’s 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is not widely hailed as one of the masterpieces of the twenty-first century. Sumptuous, complex, richly involving, thrilling and graced by career-best performances from Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, this is one truly great film. As can perhaps be glimpsed from the US trailer:
Let’s do without any Brexit-linked links this week, shall we? Pretend that nothing’s happened, and then perhaps this catastrophe will go away. And in the meantime take a look at these bits and pieces that I have found interesting the past seven days. Thanks as always to those who have pointed me towards some of them, via Twitter and in other ways, and apologies for the absence of appropriate name-checks.
Lots of post-referendum reading this week, but – with two exceptions – not here. These are links to other bits and pieces that I have found interesting the past seven days. Thanks as always to those who have pointed me towards some of them, via Twitter and in other ways, and apologies for the absence of name-checks.
• What sort of crisis is this?: again, I’m trying to avoid Brexit links, but this thoughtful, subtle and far-reaching analysis by Will Davies (I linked to his earlier post last week) is entirely exceptional. Be afraid, be very afraid.
When Trump says “I will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it” or Boris Johnson and Michael Gove say “We send the EU £350 million a week – let’s fund our NHS instead”, they are actually saying “Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.” Their claims have the form and grammar of traditional political promises, but they bear no relation to anything they actually intend to do.
The problem with pure nonsense is that is cannot be contradicted…
A nation split in two, bitter struggles over national identity and the country’s relationship with Europe, factional fighting for control of the ruling party, roiling discontent barely suppressed in the streets… This is England in 2016, perhaps, and most certainly England in the mid-15th century. For it is the background to William Shakespeare’s great cycle of history plays that culminates with the Henry VI trilogy and Richard III. In 1963 Peter Hall and John Barton triumphantly adapted these plays as The Wars of the Roses for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and the following year BBC Television recorded them on the stage in Stratford-upon-Avon. read more »
Last week BBC ArchiveTweeted a wonderful image (detail above, full picture below) of the mobile television van at Wimbledon in 1937, the first year that BBC Television covered the championships. Inspired by that, and driven by my interest in broadcasts before World War Two, this post explores what was shown and how it was received. The initial transmissions in 1937 – the first outside broadcasts of any sports event – were an immediate triumph, and tennis coverage quickly became one of the recognised successes of the new service. No wonder in September last year the BBC was so keen to reaffirm its relationship with the All England Club. read more »
The official Twitter account of Sadiq Khan sent out this image yesterday at 4.30pm. It shows the Mayor of London at the Pride rally in Trafalgar Square, and as @dannybrown commented this morning ‘This is like the poster for the film, where the shopkeepers son fixes the racist country.’ Despite looking as if it was taken on a not-so-great mobile phone (or maybe that’s part of its greatness), this is an astonishing image of the moment. read more »
Inevitably much of this week’s reading has been dominated by the many excellent pieces about the referendum and its fall-out (especially from the Guardian, which has been playing a blinder), but here are links to a selection of other bits and pieces that I have found interesting the past seven days. Thanks to those who have pointed me towards some of them, via Twitter and in other ways, and apologies for the absence of name-checks.
• Thoughts on the sociology of Brexit: I initially intended not to post any post-mortem links, but this is an outstanding analysis from Dr Will Davies thePolitical Economy Research Centre at Goldsmiths. read more »
