Matthew Carr's Blog, page 43

The Birth of a New Politics?

Watching yesterday’s stunning victory for Jeremy Corbyn unfold, I really had to resist the urge to pinch myself, and a voice continually went through my head saying that this can’t be happening.   There was so much about it that … Continue reading →

Save a Refugee – Bomb ’em all to Hell

In less than a week, the British government has frantically changed its line on Europe’s refugee crisis like a twitchy gambler shuffling cards in the hope that the right one comes up.  First David Cameron rejected the notion that accepting more refugees … Continue reading →

Cartel Land

I’m not sure if would recommend Matthew Heinemann’s darkly and disturbing documentary Cartel Land, which I saw last night, because one thing you can say is that is not a pleasant or life-affirming evening at the movies.  But for those … Continue reading →

Europe’s Border Insurgency

David Cameron has never looked shiftier or more downright disreputable than he did yesterday, when he attempted to defend the UK’s iniquitous and morally indefensible response to the most serious refugee crisis since the aftermath of World War II.  Faced … Continue reading →

Watching the Contenders ( when they shoot, shoot, shoot)

I haven’t watched most of the debates between the four Labour leadership contenders, mainly because too much exposure to Cooper, Burnham and Kendall is bad for my blood pressure and has been scientifically proven to reduce my life expectancy by … Continue reading →

Turkey’s ‘terrorist’ journalists

I’ve got a lot of respect for Vice News.  Its reporting is sharp, courageous, and provocative. It is fresh and youthful, hip without being gormlessly cool, with a no-bullshit-accepted attitude towards authority reminiscent of the best of the 60s and 70s … Continue reading →

Useless Mouths

Years before moving towards explicit racial genocide, the Nazis developed the notion of ‘useless mouths’ or ‘life unworthy of life’ to justify its ‘involuntary euthanasia’ program. Theorists argued that certain categories of people were nothing but a burden on society … Continue reading →

Bang, Bang Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

Many years ago, back in 1971, the publishing magnate Robert Maxwell was forced to resign his position on the board of directors of the Oxford-based publishing company Pergamon Press, following suggestions of malfeasance in his role during an attempted strategic … Continue reading →

Down from the Mountains

I’ve just returned from a working holiday in the Pyrenees.  During that time I haven’t done any blogging, partly because good and sustained Internet connections weren’t always available, and also because I was doing too many things to be able to sit … Continue reading →

Calais: the dystopian frontier

pp lol In these nervous, gloomy times our cultural appetite for dystopia often seems insatiable.   Again and again in book, tv series and film we like to imagine places in the near or distant future where our worst fears are … Continue reading →