Wednesday, December 09, 2020

Six of the Best 982

Timothy Garton Ash offers his manifesto for a renewal of liberalism: "At its best, liberalism has always understood that human beings never are what Jeremy Waldron has called the 'self-made atoms of liberal fantasy,' but rather live embedded in multiple kinds of community that speak to deep psychological needs for belonging and recognition."

"The most surprising feature of Britain since the Brexit referendum is just how unhappy Brexiters have been." Chris Grey probes the psychology of the Brexit ultras.

Should we have to respect or just tolerate abhorrent views? Ruth Smeeth on a debate in academia.

Nick Hunt reviews The Book of Trespass by Nick Hayes: "There’s an often surreal contrast between the chocolate-box perfection of the places he encounters - the quintessence of mannered, civilised Englishness - and the ever-present threat of being apprehended."

"Unlike the ghosts of M.R. James, whose creations could probably be best avoided by following the advice 'Put the thing back where you found it', Dickens deals in a different type of phantom. ... Dickens’ ghosts are not as concerned with things like retribution, justice or punishment as they are with making sure the inevitable comes to pass." Paul Childs explores The Signalman, the 1976 episode of A Ghost Story for Christmas adapted from a story by Charles Dickens.

Moonbrook Cottage searches for the lost Shropshire village of Hangsters Gate.

3 comments:

david walsh said...

RE; The Signalman. Out of interest, I think the physical setting for 'The Sgnalman' was Higham Station in Kent. This was Dickens's local station, a mile or so from his Gads Hill home. It is sited right by the mouth of the Strood Tunnel, a former long canal tunnel converted by the new railway, and I guess, a dank and forbidding place made worse by the smoke hanging around the mouth. See the Higham entry from the Kent Rail website for some graphic pictures. https://www.kentrail.org.uk/Higham.htm

Jonathan Calder said...

Thank you, David.

nigel hunter said...

I suppose something else that will make the Brexiters unhappy will be not only Dyson leaving the country but Ineos,s boss NOT building his new vehicle in Wales as was promised. Is it make money where the market is cheapest so that my profits in the bank will increase better than in the UK?