Benefit Street, Brighton.

                                                          Have you ever wished there was a way of capturing the past (and The Past) in a hologram and replaying it as it really was? Not just so you could see who really took the garbage out last bin-day. But so we could see how things really were, as opposed to how generations of male scholars have moulded it? Have you ever yearned for a machine which could see into the earth as underwater cameras do? Have you ever speculated about a device which would transfer your thoughts to a manuscript page without your having to voice or write them? Well tough titty to anyone who ever has had any of these kinds of thoughts, because if you dream any of these dreams chances are most of you are engaged in the Humanities . And it's a wonderful time to be working in the Humanities, because with the...

Aside from the beach, The North Laine area  is probably one of the most recognised and photographed areas of Brighton. Calenders, travel books, Beautiful Britain pamphlets & posters, Lonely Planet guides - there's always pics. of the outdoor cafes, fabulous graffiti, unconventional people and crazy inventions. I love the North Laine - but I tend to look at it through different lenses each time I'm there. At The Regency Town House we have a huge data-base of knowledge about how North Laine grew, the people for whom the houses were built, those which doubled as schools, pubs, grocers, dressmakers, and information about all the people who lived in them.    But what about this? Did people move into these from Brighton slum areas? Was this the first time some people had proper kitchens instead of dank cellars? Did they luxuriate in heated rooms for the first time? And did they feel a sense of release and even Overlordship, gazing down into the crammed and thro...

                                             I’m going to invoke “the personal is the political” mantra here to excuse my departure  from my avowed stance of being a-political. Not only because I find that the elephant in the room is becoming uncomfortably intrusive; but because we are all, actually, shit-scared. But most people don't want to say it out loud. Because right there, last Wednesday morning, was when the  political  cast a huge dark cloud over my personal. On Wednesday EVERYONE , including the contestants, was at Stage One – total shock. On  Tuesday people everywhere had that euphoric moment on first awakening: - thinking it had all been a nightmare or that JR wasn’t dead. They all experienced the same cold chill when they realised it wasn’t a nightmare; or a game show.  The world had changed. Now, five days later,...

I utterly refuse to consider people other than Saul on the road to Damascus as having had epiphanies.   Neither Newton nor Archimedes claimed one  and both of them knew of the concept. Nor can Joan of Arc reliably be credited with one, because she was in all probability schizophrenic. An epiphany demands clouds parting, trumpets, and heralds at the very least. Plus a loud booming voice off-stage. So I seriously question people who say they got all this action on the top of the No.5 bus on the way to the Pizza parlour. It may be obvious by now that I did not have an epiphany this afternoon.  But, having been so vehement about repudiating the tendency people have lately of having epiphanies on a semi-regular basis and without visible effects and cloud parting; I find myself bereft of a way to say what happened to me this afternoon. Perhaps it was a revelation? But that still sounds faintly ecclesiastical – so...no.  Yet I honestly felt ...

                                                   Unlike, presumably, the AQA and those who have made the decision to circumvent our children’s education, I have actually lived in a country – a very large and populous country – where more than two generations  have been brought up in utter ignorance of their history, their place in the world, or any sense of the aesthetic. They live their entire lives unmindfull of the fact that beauty exists as anything other than an artificial and economic imperative. As a result of having shriven from their environment all that is not logical, practical and dependant for its value upon re-sale worth, their country has become a barren, featureless landscape; their cities the most polluted concrete units in all the world; their children unable to project interest beyond the sealed barrier of Self. Artsy-fa...

If it were just that I saw a teaser from Michael Moore's latest film, I could have fitted that in, and still made tea. If it were the joyous news that I feel vindicated I could have conveyed that with the help of Victorian punctuation (scads of exclamation marks) and exclamations to put before them. But neither of those really address the point,: - which is that this deserves to go viral and all the committees, and the panels, and the interest groups and the Departments (those with the capital d - like health, anti-social behaviour, mental health, education,) should be made to hand in their cell-phones and secretaries and advisors at the door, and be made to sit down and watch this. And then answer questions from the public. I would think that most of us know that Finland has a pretty good education system.  But even if not, have you ever met a Finn who couldn't speak English, who wasn't well informed about world affairs, who didn't love to laugh - with or withou...

The thing about totally losing your mind is that it takes so damn long to find it again. Even when you think you may have finally rounded it all up, it's really difficult to know how to put it back again neatly.  Like trying to stuff a double duvet into a single duvet cover. I never thought I'd find myself blogging about  this, because I had so many other fish to fry. I wanted to start tilting at windmills once again, and fighting the good fight, and speaking out  But I couldn't. Because I couldn't admit that actually, I couldn't. Because I haven't been fixed yet. People were tactful and supportive when, in May last year, I finally lost the plot completely, But no-one can go on being tactful and supportive indefinitely. It is a very finite state.  Making Allowances wears a bit thin after a while too. So you try to remember who you were when you were well. Then you remember that while you may have switched off all the lights last May, you'd ...