Absurd Intelligence

We were just coming out of the long Covid hibernation, shifting back into a world of sunshine and a renewed sense of hope. The great outdoors dazzled. It was a time when everything felt possible again. For me, Covid was a circuit breaker. It had been a time to slow down and think about renewed creative direction, take stock of new ideas that had been fermenting away.

We all have a responsibility. That’s never been more clear as the world rapidly turns upside down and inside out. To be passive in the times we’re in, when the harm being caused is self-evident, broadcast daily, unavoidable, is surely to live a life disconnected from reality. When we lose sight of responsibility – to each other, to the places we live, to nature – when we protect ourselves and corporate interest over humanity, a world takes shape that’s very much like the one we have now.

Activism — 11 min read On Saturday I was one of the speakers at the Adam Curtis Party Conference in Bournemouth. I was invited because John Higgs – surely as skilled a joiner-of-dots as Curtis – couldn’t make it, and he was generous enough to suggest me. No pressure, then. The day was, as you might imagine, something of a mind-mangler. A raft of speakers and topics that spanned Russia and Communism, contemporary art, the irrelevance of political parties, mental health and World War III.

When I heard about an old friend of mine being arrested and held on remand for falling down a far right and drug-induced rabbit hole earlier this year (for trying to set fire to a 5G tower, attacking a police officer, and planning to set fire to an Indian restaurant), the first thought that came into my mind following the shock was: how lonely he had been. I knew he lived in his parents’ basement, didn’t go out much and had struggled to establish himself as an artist, which was his dream.

I walked into a ‘story time’ session at my local library with my one-year-old daughter recently. I’d barely slept for several days. My partner is a carer. He works 48 hour shifts, which means my daughter has her dad around the rest of the week, but I also have long stints of looking after her solo, through the day and night. All this is context to help explain how seriously welcome the warmth and community of the library is for me as a first-time mum.

We need to be better than our social media allows us. So here’s an idea… Each week, a new cancellation. Each month a new scapegoat to throw to the wolves. The corporate media are unhinged at the best of times, but, this past month they’ve out done themselves. The Jason Arday story really knocked me for six. I don’t think I’ve been so disgusted by people’s capacity for thoughtless cruelty in a really long time. I’m shocked, though not surprised. This is the mainstream media’s bread and butter.

There’s something wholesome and positive about the British garden shed. I used to spend a great deal of time in my granddad’s, learning how to use tools, make and repair things, mostly out of wood. You use it or lose it though, and many of those skills – like how to put dovetail joints into the frames of a cat-bed hotel – are gone.

Economics — 6 min read Soup kitchen queue after the 1929 Wall Street stock market crash On the first day of the Absurd Transformation, a fundamental piece of legislation will be introduced that will signal the ambitious intent of the new system. The word “market” will be banned.

If I was in charge, one of the first things I would do is insist Media Health Warnings were put on newspapers and displayed before news programmes, a bit like you have on packets of cigarettes.* You know, the labels that tell you you might lose all your teeth or get lung disease if you consume their product. Instead, these would warn you about the possible risks of deception the news you’re about to read might provide.

‘If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring’ sang Tony Bennett. OK so I’m not actually ‘ruling the world’, I’m just hypothetically exploring what I might do ‘If I was in charge’ for a day, but the song’s sentiment still applies. I would be delighted if Tony’s ruling could be true. I bloody love spring. It is without a doubt my favourite season. You can keep your increasingly Hellscaped hot summers. Autumn’s sense of loss, mulch and decay can go do one. And winter?