Like millions of other Bowie fans I find myself listening to his music more than ever since he died a year ago today.And, as for them, it continues to offer consolation, not only for the hard fact that we shall hear no more from him, but for the particular challenges of my own life. Why should this music, so often abstract, glacial, detached, obscure and mockingly ironic, … [Read more...] about David Bowie, devout sceptic
2017 and the idea of utopia
Billed as a year of imagination and possibility to mark the 500th anniversary of Thomas More’s Utopia, 2016 didn’t quite work out that way.2017 offers another opportunity to consider the meaning and value of the idea of utopia, marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution, the most significant utopian enterprise since the American and French revolutions.For most, the … [Read more...] about 2017 and the idea of utopia
Imagining a ‘progressive communitarianism’
The new authoritarianism sweeping through liberal democracies increasingly justifies parallels with the 1930s.Now, like then, electorates face multiple insecurities: a lack of decent work, crumbling welfare systems, widening inequalities and rapidly changing migration patterns.And now, like then, there is little faith in the capacity of governments to address those … [Read more...] about Imagining a ‘progressive communitarianism’
Discerning the light: a sceptic explores the history of religion
Former Bishop of Edinburgh Richard Holloway, whose complex relationship with his own Christian tradition has made him perhaps the quintessential sceptical Scot, widens his focus to the world’s religions in a new book exploring the history of faith.A Little History of Religion follows in the footsteps of Karen Armstrong’s A History of God and Huston Smith’s The World’s … [Read more...] about Discerning the light: a sceptic explores the history of religion
Zionism, anti-semitism and the Left
How can political progressives who have dedicated their careers to principled opposition to racism possibly be guilty of anti-Semitism, one of history’s darkest and most ancient forms of discrimination?The Left’s Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and Anti-Semitism by Dave Rich is a lucid and sensitive exploration of how well-intentioned anti-racism can nonetheless … [Read more...] about Zionism, anti-semitism and the Left