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Articles by Terry Eagleton
The Budget is Britain’s tribal ritual Does John Healey have shamanic powers?
“The Chancellor’s little case does both at once: it has a pseudo-sacred aura about it that every press photographer in the business wants to capture.” (Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images) BudgetJohn HealeyPoliticsSpectacleUK Prefer us on Google All nations have budgets, but not many have a Budget. A Budget is a budget transformed into a solemn ritual, like the Latin Mass or the Changing of the Guard, heralded long before its arrival like Christmas or Halloween.
Političari zaslužuju naš cinizam
Piše: Terry Eagleton Šta ljudi obično kažu o političarima? „Svi su isti.“ „Nikad ništa ne rade za druge.“ „Bave se politikom samo zbog sebe.“ Ništa od toga nije baš tačno. Džeremi Korbin i Džejkob Ris-Mog slični su samo po tome što svaki ima dvije noge i dvije ruke i pripada muškoj grani vrste. Naj Bevan je uradio nešto za nebrojene građane kad je osnovao Nacionalni zdravstveni sistem. Što se tiče koristi od politike, niko ne bi izabrao Donji dom kao put ka neviđenom bogatstvu.
Političari zaslužuju naš cinizam
Foto: Neda Radulović-Viswanatha Šta ljudi obično kažu o političarima? „Svi su isti.“ „Nikad ništa ne rade za druge.“ „Bave se politikom samo zbog sebe.“ Ništa od toga nije baš tačno. Džeremi Korbin i Džejkob Ris-Mog slični su samo po tome što svaki ima dve noge i dve ruke i pripada muškoj grani vrste. Naj Bevan je uradio nešto za nebrojene građane kad je osnovao Nacionalni zdravstveni sistem. Što se tiče koristi od politike, niko ne bi izabrao Donji dom kao put ka neviđenom bogatstvu.
AI: a very human tragedy Mankind will always overreach
Daedalus pushing Icarus. (Heritage Images/Getty) aiApocalypseBig techPhilosophyShakespeare Prefer us on Google The King has had a word with the giants of the AI industry, so one assumes that all is now well and the Apocalypse has been called off for lack of support. Surely these CEOs wouldn’t turn a deaf ear to a bit of good old English common sense.
Who owns Meghan Markle? She is now subject to the fickle consumer
“The main difference between Hollywood movies and royalty is that the former don’t even pretend to be real.” (Matt Cardy/Getty) Harry and MeghanPostmodernismRoyal familySociety Prefer us on Google As the King definitively rules out a return to The Firm, Meghan Markle must be more urgently contemplating a return to acting. Cynics might suggest that she never left it. There’s no great distance between Hollywood and the Royal Family.
Gde je nestao engleski smisao za humor
Neuspela šala može biti nezgodna stvar, kao u dosetki Boba Monkhauza: „Smejali su se kad sam im rekao da želim da budem komičar. E sad se više ne smeju.“ Propale šale i ljudski padovi mogu biti izvor sjajne komedije. Humor je često zasnovan na obezvređivanju i raskrinkavanju. Bataljon legendarnih britanskih komičara (Toni Henkok, Frenki Hauard, Kenet Vilijams) eksploatiše nagle prelaze sa uzvišenog na prizemno – s uglađenih tonova obrazovane srednje klase na sirovi pučki jezik.
Gde je nestao engleski smisao za humor
Gregos, East London street art, foto: Miljana Radivojević Prema rezultatima nedavnog naučnog istraživanja, dve petine profesionalnih govornika ne koriste humor, a kad to pokušaju, dve trećine ne uspeju nikog da nasmeju. Istraživači su izveli i jedan ajnštajnovski dubok zaključak: publika se manje smeje onda kad misli da se to od nje ne očekuje.
Why corpses shouldn't be sacred Beneath our reverence lies hostility
The funeral of Christopher Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, in “The Sopranos” (HBO) afterlifeCorpsesDead bodiesDeathFuneralReveranceSigmund FreudThomas Aquinas Prefer us on Google Earlier this summer, a funeral director was sent to prison for 20 years for his grossly negligent way with corpses. Not only did Robert Bush fail to cremate and bury people, but he gave grieving relatives the ashes of strangers. Some of us might find his sentence a touch draconian.
Politicians deserve our cynicism Their deceptions are wonderfully transparent
(Henry Nicholls/Getty) Andy BurnhamCapitalismDonald TrumpNigel FaragePopulism Prefer us on Google What do people usually say about politicians? “They’re all the same.” “They never do anything for anybody.” “They’re only in it for themselves.” None of this is particularly accurate. Jeremy Corbyn and Jacob Rees-Mogg are alike only in that each of them has four limbs and belongs to the male branch of the species. Nye Bevan did something for countless numbers of citizens when he founded the NHS.
‘Plastered Saint’
Gerard Vandergucht, Frontispiece to The Humours of Oxford, 1730 (Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo) It is sometimes claimed that death allows you or others to draw a line under your life, and in doing so to grasp it as a totality. All the evidence is now in, nothing can be altered, and what is true of you is true for all time; so that one’s existence, incapable of growing by an inch or an ounce, is now laid up in eternity like that of Rastignac or Josef K.
On plagiarism All human life is an imitation
Everything is shop-soiled, tarnished, woven out of something else — as Bob Monkhouse was no doubt aware (Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty) Artificial intelligenceLiteratureplagiarismWriting Prefer us on Google The exam season has come and gone, and academics have been sniffing the air for the stench of plagiarism. In the 2024-2025 academic year, more than 2,000 students at Russell Group universities were punished for using AI to cheat, and these were probably only the most egregious cases.
Starveling Rabblement
That James Joyce had a political life might seem surprising. The standard critical account is that he took an interest in socialism and Irish nationalism as a young man, but abandoned them after his self-exile to continental Europe in 1904. From then on it was art that preoccupied him. He made no public comment on the Easter Rising in 1916, and for the most part held himself aloof from Ireland’s struggle for political independence.
Jeffrey Donaldson’s wicked crimes Puritans made sex monstrous
(Charles McQuillan/Getty) jeffrey donaldsonNorthern IrelandPresbyterianismUlster Jeffrey Donaldson, one of the most notable politicians in Northern Ireland, was convicted of child rape on 22 June. The BBC’s News at Six bulletin made no mention of it, save for a few words in the ticker. It’s true that the same day witnessed the resignation of the Prime Minister, but the TV news still found time for an item on the heatwave.
Gospodar muva – ljudskost je nešto drugo
Foto: BBC Gospodar muva Vilijama Goldinga, po kom je BBC nedavno snimio televizijsku seriju, roman je sa skrivenom tezom. Kao i nekoliko drugih Goldingovih romana, on zapravo govori o Padu. Posle avionske nesreće, grupa lepo vaspitanih dečaka završava na pustom i zabačenom pacifičkom ostrvu, i postepeno zapada u divljaštvo. Otprilike kao kad bi anđeoski dečak Oliver Tvist završio kao trgovac drogama.
Why aristocrats are funny Toffs can be transgressive
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry in Jeeves and Wooster, 1990. (Getty) aristocracyBoris JohnsonCultureHumourMonty Python A recent scientific study of professional speakers finds that two fifths of them told no jokes, and of the jokes they attempted two thirds fell flat. In an insight of Einsteinian profundity, the researchers also discovered that audiences laugh less when they think they’re not expected to.
Champions League is the people’s theater Football combines artistry with mass devotion
The Liverpool team after their 2005 victory. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images) CarnivalChampions LeagueFootballPostmodernismSolidarity The Champions League semi-finals start this evening. I haven’t a clue what this means, but it provides a convenient starting point for a few reflections on sport and exercise. Being in my early eighties, I attribute this modest degree of longevity to a strict avoidance of all forms of physical exercise. The odd bout of debauchery has also been a help.
How Salford made modern Britain The dirty old town birthed generations of artists
'Get back on the drugs!' (Michael Putland/Getty) artsCultureManchesterThe NorthThe SmithsWorking class The painter L.S. Lowry died 50 years ago this year, and spent some of his time painting in my hometown of Salford. In fact, my mother used to see him sketching by the road on her way to work. He was given a wide berth by most of the local population — not only because he was that queer thing, an artist, but because his regular job was being a rent collector.
On love and sacrifice Easter is a celebration of absence
‘Jesus’s rising from the dead isn’t just a spiritual or symbolic affair’. (Credit: Jose Jordan/Getty) BibleChristianityCrucifixionEasterLoveresurrectionSacrifice At the center of Christianity lies a great big hole, more commonly known as the empty tomb. It’s around the absence of God that the feast of Easter turns, not some glorious revelation of him. The tomb is empty because Jesus is supposed to have risen from the dead, but the New Testament doesn’t actually recount this event.
Lord of the Flies is wrong about humanity
'Jack, the proto-fascist character in Golding’s version, is a hangover from this stiff-upper-lip heritage' (Lord of the Flies, BBC) CivilisationLiteratureLord of the FliesViolenceWilliam Golding William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, currently being dramatized on BBC television, is a novel with a hidden thesis. Like several of Golding’s other novels, it is really about the Fall.
How Trump violated the bourgeoisie
‘He takes a positive delight in parading his power, turning it into theatre and spectacle’. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) donald j trumpiceKarl Marx Karl Marx was in two minds about the middle classes. It’s commonly thought that he wanted to see the back of them, which is true enough; but it’s also commonly forgotten that he praised them as being in their heyday the most revolutionary force that history had ever witnessed.
Tiha voda breg roni
Foto: Neda Radulović-Viswanatha Svi vole Džejn Ostin, kao što svi vole Oskara Vajlda i Bila Konolija. Istina, jedan američki kritičar ju je 60-ih godina 20. veka nazvao „frigidna usedelica“, ali u to vreme je promiskuitet pogrešno poistovećivan sa oslobođenjem – bar u muškom delu populacije. Sada, na 250. godišnjicu njenog rođenja, Ostin je manje spisateljica a više institucija. Pre joj je mesto uz Dom lordova i Englesku banku nego uz Tekerija i Trolopa.
What the King says about Britain
One argument in favour of the monarchy is that it provides a thread of continuity in an otherwise fragmented world. (Credit: Aaron Chown/WPA Pool/Getty) Commodity cultureKing CharlesMonarchyPostmodernismRepublicanismThatcherism King Charles is full of surprises.
Jane Austen was no Romantic
Smoldering prose. (Credit: Focus Features) ClassEnglish LiteratureJane Austen Everybody loves Jane Austen, just as everybody loves Oscar Wilde and Billy Connolly. It’s true that an American critic in the Sixties called her a frigid old maid, but those were the days when promiscuity was mistaken for liberation — at least by the male portion of the population. Now, on the 250th anniversary of her birth, Austen is less an author than an institution.
The transgressions of Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard with the cast of Shipwreck: The Coast of Utopia Part 2.(Credit: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic) BritainIrelandLiteraturePlaywrightTheatreTom Stoppard If language lies at the core of our existence, it’s also a playground without frontiers where we can sport, and a process which never comes to an end. Language is infinite; it is the atheist’s equivalent of the Almighty. You might think, then, that the best place for a writer to be is as far inside the language he is using as possible.
Pregnant with Monsters
There is something mildly comic about the name Arthur Schopenhauer. The homely ‘Arthur’ doesn’t sit well alongside the stately, mouth-filling ‘Schopenhauer’. Schopenhauer himself saw such incongruities as the essence of humour. He was a full-blooded metaphysician but also a vulgar materialist, and in moving between the two his work, like his name, teeters on the brink of bathos.
BBC i objektivnost izveštavanja
Ima nečeg ironičnog u tome kad nekog kritikuju zbog pristrasnosti u ovom postmodernom vremenu. Pristrasnost podrazumeva mogućnost istine, a istina kao pojam sve više gubi kredibilitet. Sama reč „bezinteresno“ danas se pogrešno koristi. Većina ljudi verovatno misli da ona znači „nedostatak interesovanja“, a ne „objektivnost pristupa“. Verovatno se to delimično može pripisati činjenici da je istina uglavnom neprijatna, kao i tome što živimo u društvu koje ceni egalitarizam.
Why the BBC was never impartial
BiasGazaimpartialitymoral realism There’s something ironic about being criticised for bias in these postmodern times. Bias implies the possibility of truth, and truth as a concept is becoming increasingly discredited. The very word “disinterested” is no longer used accurately. Most people probably think it means “a lack of interest” rather than “impartial”. All this is partly because the truth is generally unpleasant, but also because we live in a society which values egalitarianism.
The superfluous Prince Andrew
EpsteinPrince AndrewRoyal familyShakespearewindsors The philosopher Hegel wrote that every historical event happens twice. Karl Marx commented that he forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. One of the notable aspects of the death of Prince Andrew, and the simultaneous birth of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, is that it doesn’t even have the grand status of tragedy.
Jonathan Swift's lessons in irony
cultural relativismIronypete hegsethSatire Donald Trump wants to shrink the American state and Pete Hegseth, his Secretary of War, wants to shrink the top brass. He has ordered his military officers to lose some weight, arguing that there are too many gross generals, corpulent colonels and massive majors around the place. The same is true of American police officers, who seem to be recruited for their beefiness. The fact that they can’t run is the reason why so many suspects get shot in the back.
Does Trump read Shakespeare?
diverseFreudShakespeareSocietyTheatreTrump The American President has come and gone, and since he didn’t publicly say “bullshit”, “scumbag”, or “slimeball” once, his trip to Britain can be deemed a success. The role of the United States is to rule the world, while the role of the United Kingdom is to supply the pomp and pageantry which might help to distract people from the nastiness Donald Trump’s visit involves: even as he insults the mayor of Britain’s capital once safely back home.
Koga vi zovete teroristima?
Oksfordski rečnik engleskog jezika definiše terorizam kao „nezvaničnu ili neovlašćenu primenu nasilja za ostvarivanje političkih ciljeva“. „Nezvanično i neovlašćeno“ je tu da zaštiti svakog vojnika na planeti od sudskog gonjenja za ubistvo i nanošenje teške fizičke povrede. Izraelske odbrambene snage mogu da masakriraju decu i pretvaraju bolnice u ruševine, ali stanovište državne vojske Izraela je da se na te strahote obično ne gleda kao na terorističke činove. Monstruozni zločini Hamasa od 7.
Trump needs a Fool
CultureDonald TrumpfoolKing LearSatireUK How long before mockery and derision become a crime in the United States? Not that they are much in evidence now. Last month, the US comedian Stephen Colbert had his Late Show cancelled after nearly 10 years. It is widely suspected that the cancellation was motivated partly by executives’ desire to appease Donald Trump, whom Colbert frequently satirised.
La hambruna es un arma antigua
Como casi todas las hambrunas, la de Gaza es provocada por el hombre. Muy pocas hambrunas son causadas por la escasez natural de alimentos. Suponer que esto ocurre es un mito, al igual que creer que la mayoría de las víctimas mueren de hambre. En realidad, mueren de enfermedades relacionadas con el hambre. Las hambrunas suelen ocurrir porque es imposible reunir alimentos y personas, por razones políticas, económicas o logísticas.
Glad kao oružje - Tacno.net
S one strane granice Gaze ima mnogo hrane, baš kao što je u vreme masovne gladi u Irskoj 1840-ih bilo mnogo hrane u Velikoj Britaniji. Skoro 50 godina ranije Britanija i Irska su ušle u političku uniju, te je neko mogao pomisliti da će se problem gladi u okrugu Kork rešavati na isti način kao što bi se rešavao u Kentu ili Saseksu.
Glad kao oružje
Masovna glad u Gazi, kao i skoro svaka druga, čovekovo je delo. Pretpostavka da je njen uzrok prirodna nestašica hrane (koja se veoma retko događa) običan je mit, kao i verovanje da većina žrtava gladi umire od izgladnelosti. Žrtve gladi umiru od bolesti koje su povezane s izgladnelošću. Masovna glad nastupa zato što je nemoguće sastaviti hranu i ljude iz političkih, ekonomskih ili logističkih razloga. Obično u okruženju ima hrane, ali ljudima nedostaju sredstva da je kupe ili da do nje stignu.
Famine is an age-old weapon Original
GazaIrelandIrish famineIsraelIsrael Hamas WarPoliticsGali Baharav-MiaraUK Like almost all famines, the famine in Gaza is man-made. Very few famines come about because of natural food shortages. The assumption that they do is as much a myth as the belief that most victims of famine die of starvation. In fact, they die of diseases associated with starvation. Famines tend to happen because it’s impossible to bring the food and the people together, for either political, economic or logistical reasons.
Who are you calling a terrorist?
diverseRAFPoliticsTerrorism The Oxford English Dictionary defines terrorism as “the unofficial or unauthorised use of violence in the pursuit of political aims”. “Unofficial and unauthorised” is there to prevent every soldier on the planet from being hauled before a court of law for murder or grievous bodily harm.
Ireland’s rising racism
Street CrimeEuropeImmigrationImmigration protestsIrelandPolitics There’s a sentimental old Irish song which begins: “If you’re Irish, come into the parlour, There’s a welcome there for you; If your name is Timothy or Pat, As long as you come from Ireland There’s a welcome on the mat…” Despite this toe-curling stuff, the Irish aren’t a particularly sentimental bunch. A lifetime of labour on a small tenant farm wasn’t likely to predispose them to emotional self-indulgence.
Kapitalizam protiv demokratije
Moj tutor na Kembridžu, veoma civilizovan čovek, nije verovao u demokratiju. Divio se pronicljivosti i mudrosti upravnika koledža i mislio da bi našoj zemlji bilo bolje pod takvom paternalističkom upravom nego što joj je sa sadašnjim oblikom vladavine. Članovi koledža, rekao mi je jednom, već petnaest godina raspravljaju o važnom pitanju kako najbolje osvetliti predvorje, kao u nekom romanu Dejvida Lodža. Po njegovom mišljenju, bilo bi bolje da prekinu prepirku i povere tu stvar upravniku.
Is Nigel Farage a man of the people?
diverseJacob Rees-MoggLiberalismthe peopleNigel FaragePoliticsPopulismthe people People are to be found wherever you look, but “the people” is a different matter entirely. It’s a concept, not a reality: rather like “the masses”. Most men and women don’t see themselves as part of this faceless mob, but they might well regard others as part of it. As the cultural thinker Raymond Williams put it, masses are other people.
Cómo amenaza el capitalismo la democracia. La política es hoy tan volátil como la Bolsa
Fuentes: Sin permiso Mi tutor en Cambridge, hombre profundamente civilizado, no creía en la democracia. Admiraba mucho al director del colegio universitario por su sabiduría y perspicacia, y pensaba que el país estaría mejor bajo ese tipo de gobierno paternalista que con su actual forma de gobierno.
Proletarijat u kancelariji
Laburistički ekvivalent takve ličnosti je Džon Preskot, čovek koji je podržavao nezakoniti napad na Irak i vezivanje ruku sindikatima, ali je to radio s jorkširskim naglaskom, što ga je automatski svrstavalo među ljude iz naroda. Vozio je jaguar i bio vrlo osetljiv na svoj status, ali koga briga kad je u stanju da naiskap sruči pintu gorkog piva? Britanci vole gospodu, ali još više vole živopisne karaktere, a Preskot je to svakako bio.
O kolateralnoj šteti
Zamislite da se serijski ubica sklonio među grupu dece u školi. Za decu on ne predstavlja pretnju, ali ako mu se dopusti da pobegne, verovatno će ponovo nekog ubiti, a možda i počiniti masovno ubistvo. Škola je okružena bezbednosnim snagama, ali njihova meta se ne vidi. Mladi oficir pita komandanta šta da radi. Odgovor odmah stiže: „Raznesite školu“. Mladi oficir okleva. A deca? Komandant mu odgovara da smrt dece neće biti njihova krivica, već krivica serijskog ubice.
How Ireland fetishises history
EuropeIrelandKneecapNationalismPoliticsprotestSolidarity Named after a particularly excruciating form of punishment meted out by the IRA, the Irish rap group Kneecap come from Belfast but not from the British Isles. The archipelago on which they live contains a sizeable chunk of non-British territory known as the Republic of Ireland, meaning there’s no accurate name for the group of islands as a whole.
Is Standard English dying out?
AccentsCharles DickensClassLanguageOliver TwistSocietyUK Americans sometimes speak of a British accent, as though Scousers and Geordies talked just the same. Not only is their speech very different, but they might not even be intelligible to each other, as Texans and New Yorkers generally are. People who live in Derry mock the way the inhabitants of Belfast talk, though both probably sound much the same to someone from Knightsbridge.
What the Pope could teach Trump about truth
Catholic ChurchDonald TrumpEpistemologyPoliticsPope FrancistruthUS Two dogmatic world leaders have been much in the news recently: the infallible Pope Francis and the supremely arrogant President Trump. Trump’s dust-up in the Oval Office, along much of his behaviour this past week, was the perfect demonstration of the United States’s attitude to that disreputable place known as Abroad.
Donald Trump is a Dickensian rogue
Donald TrumpElon MuskLibertarianismPoliticsUS Just like a Shakespearean villain, Trump seems ready to break all bonds, violate all constraints and transgress all boundaries. He is a rogue on the rampage, tearing up contracts and faithless to all around him, appearing to acknowledge no restraint on the pursuit of self-interest, whether his own or what he takes to be that of his nation. What drives him is what drives a hyena: appetite.
Britain is stronger divided
Political divisionPoliticsSimon SchamaStory of usThe ArtsUK Simon Schama’s latest television series, Story of Us, raises a number of awkward questions — beginning with its title. The series reflects, among other things, on the divisions in British society and the role of culture in trying to heal them. But is British history really as coherent and continuous as the word “story” suggests? And who, exactly, is “Us”?
Mit o kulturnom jedinstvu
Foto: Neda Radulović – Viswanatha Ali šta su tačno britanske vrednosti, to nije tako jasno kao što neki ljudi misle. Jedna od njih je verovatno patriotizam, ali biti ponosan britanski patriota zapravo je jedan oblik identitetske politike, baš kao i biti militantna lezbejka. Oni kojima je identitetska politika odbojna imaju na umu identitete drugih ljudi, a ne sopstveni.
Nacionalizam je izgrađen na laži
Terry Eagleton/foto: newcriterion.com Neki nacionalisti s čežnjom gledaju na utopiju iz prošlosti, u vreme pre nego što su se kolonijalni osvajači iskrcali na njihovim obalama. U 18. veku, patriotski nastrojeni irski naučnici tvrdili su da se u Rajskom vrtu verovatno govori irski jezik. Ne smemo, međutim, dozvoliti da nas taj arhaični ton zavede. Nacionalizam je sasvim moderna ideologija, koja je nastala pre najviše dva i po veka.
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