I watched the 2014 documentary about Gerry and Sylvia Anderson “Filmed In Supermarionation” the other day. It was really entertaining. Four Feather Falls, Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray and Thunderbirds were part of my childhood, although I lost interest somewhere around the first broadcast of Joe 90. My favourite part of the documentary was when Gerry […]
Archive | Politics
Hard times in the land of plenty
Most people know someone a bit like Donald Trump. The only unusual thing about him is the huge amount of money that he inherited. He parades his faults shamelessly. I would be reluctant to talk to him at a party, let alone vote for him. The polls suggest that many people gave him their vote […]
Histrionics and quantum politics
Last week started with a somewhat anti-climactic announcement from the Prime Minister about mental health services. Her speech ended with a statement that “parity means parity”. If this was intended as a triumphant conclusion to a stirring performance, it fell rather flat. The phrase echoed her hollow “Brexit means Brexit” catechism. The Prime Minister seems […]
Reasons to be cheerful
What if the worst happens? Well, it has. Donald Trump is going to be President of the USA. His campaign rested on his status as an existential “winner”, a promise to reverse America’s misfortunes through the power of will and the demonization of minorities. These ideas belong to a political tradition that is indistinguishable from […]
No more Knock Down Ginger
By Catherine Robinson on 6th November 2016 in India, Internationalism, Mental Health, Politics, Psychiatry
When I was a kid in South East London, there was no Internet and no video games. There were just two black and white television channels. Commencing the day after President Kennedy was assassinated, we had Dr Who on a Saturday evening, but both channels went off for an hour on Sunday evening. The Sixties […]
A disturbing footnote in a sad election season
Donald Trump has provoked Michelle Obama to make one of the best political speeches of my lifetime. She spoke in New Hampshire on Thursday 13th October 2016, supporting Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign. She displayed a rare authenticity and a passion that I found genuinely moving. It is worth watching all 25 minutes here. It is […]
Poetical Essay On The Existing State Of Things
The summer news drought has been cancelled. Right back in the middle of the 19th Century, Fleet Street labelled the month of August ‘the Silly Season’ (‘Cucumber Time’ to my European readers). This year we have a vibrant Technicolor news freak out instead. Every time you think that Mr Trump has reached his offensive peak, […]
The Ministry of Fear
As I arrived in Southwold, Suffolk, for the annual family gathering, I was puzzled by a plethora of red, white and blue bunting. It was the day after the Bastille Day massacre in Nice and I briefly wondered if the bunting was a gesture of solidarity. Then I wondered if the town was having an […]
Chaos and lies
There seems to be a lot of news at present. It is not just the quantity that is exhausting. Like the weather, severe news events are becoming unnaturally common. Once-a-century phenomena are occurring several times a week. Personally, I would like some respite. Events are piling in on top of each other so that, for […]
¡No pasarán!
People who have a religious faith say that it affects everything they do, though it mostly goes unstated. I suppose that political convictions are similar. It is wrong for doctors to use their clinical relationship with patients as a platform for political proselytisation, but health and health care are deeply political matters. In a job […]