17.55. Had an early tea (dinner for those in the south) and Iām back at my desk with the window open, a slight breeze blowing, the birds singing. It would be so very calming except for the sound of the neighbourās grandkids splashing and screaming in their paddling poolā¦ Iām not sure why Iām writing […]
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So I checkedā¦ I checked to see Iād be eligible for any of the help the government have so generously offered the self-employed for the past/ongoing three months of lockdown. And, I admit, at first, I was blinded by the chancellorās delivery. I believed Rishi Sunak when he stepped up those many weeks ago and […]
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Iāve always loved optical illusions and visual puns. I especially like those paints that involve a face made from other objects, such as Giuseppe Arcimboldoās Vertumnus, which is a painting of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf the rednoseā¦ Sorry, I mean: Rudolf II. He did others but thatās probably the most famous. This was my […]
Continue ReadingThe news that Professor Neil Ferguson has been crunching something more than the numbers during lockdown means I need to stick a new post-it on my monitor to remind me that itās ānone of my bloody businessā. Itās the business of certain newspapers, though, who seem to take great delight in having found somebody displaying […]
Continue ReadingOnce upon a time, when I was less grey but significantly more unhappy, I used to be a computer programmer. Well, I say āprogrammerā but I was probably one step away from a hacker; little more than a one-man-band who would write software to order, bypassing all the formal training Iād been taught at university […]
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So I find myself sitting here wondering how I would feel if Michael Gove had a book by David Icke on his shelfā¦ Probably more worried, if Iām honest. Icke doesnāt write out of any respected tradition except that of the seers and mystics who have always been around making a pretty penny from the […]
Continue ReadingJust finished one piece and Iām about to go and grab some food before I pen something for the blog. So, in the meantime, I thought Iād quickly write an update on this experiment in caffeine-fuelled creativity. Iām now over one month into this project. During that time, I have noticeably increased my caffeine intake […]
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So, Youtube has finally stopped David Icke from using their platform. Well, thank some-Christ-like-figure for that! You might not be old enough to remember the emergence of Icke. Heās a former lower-league goalkeeper turned forgettable sports presenter turned annoying Green Party spokesman turnedā¦ well, itās never been polite to say what I thought he became. […]
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Weāre all well used to reading political news that we know will skew either to the right or the left. The government trip over their feet and certain papers drag them to the iron maiden before slamming the door on their toes. The government achieves a small victory and other papers fete them as if […]
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My current favourite podcast (other than our own) is new and hosted by Rick Wilson and Molly Jong-Fast. I canāt recommend it highly enough, particularly if you enjoy US politics in its rawest form, by which I mean, rich with vulgarity. The New Abnormal (great title, by the way) isnāt afraid to put things bluntly. […]
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Heads up for another important date in the diary: Friday, 8th May, when the nation will commemorate VE Day with a national doorstep singalong to Dame Vera Lynnās āWeāll Meet Againā. Jotted that down? Good. Now youāve had fair warning to lock your doors by eight and be in bed before the public displays of […]
Continue ReadingBit tired today. Doing the podcast always takes it out of me but I also wrote an article yesterday. Today, then, is a bit of a rest day, which means catching up on all the jobs I avoided yesterday. In between, I escape to draw up plans to build a new PC. It’s something to […]
Continue ReadingOnce you learn about the Dunning-Kruger effect, itās easy to become paralysed by self-doubt. The effect, as you probably know, is described by a curve where experience runs along the horizontal axis and competence on the vertical. It looks like this… What does this tell us? It tells us that when people start out on […]
Continue ReadingI had a piece I was going to finish for today about Marvelās Avengers and the NHS but I think Iāll leave that for another time or perhaps no time at all. My morning was taken up with writing a piece about Professor Trumpās lecture on the medicinal benefits of bleach and I have lots […]
Continue ReadingHappy St Georgeās Day! And to mark the occasion, hereās a bit about another national hero, facing down a fierce dragonā¦ Toby Young now claims to have caught the coronavirus. He also claims to have beaten it. In his latest piece [gestures vaguely towards places on the internet I donāt frequent], he describes how he […]
Continue ReadingWhy Dunciad.com?
It’s a cool domain name and it was available. Yes, I know. Available. Crazy, isn’t it?
Really?
Yes. It also helps that it’s also my favourite satire written by Alexander Pope, one of the most metrically pure English poets who also knew his way around a crude insult or two. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try.
So this is satire, right?
Can’t deny it. There will be some. But it’s also an experiment in writing and drawing, giving work away for free in order to see how many people are willing to support a writer doing his thing. It’s the weird stuff that I wouldn’t get published elsewhere in this word of diminishing demands and cookie-cutter tastes.
