When I was young, I saw a Czech film. In the film, magically, a huge pile of delicious cherries appeared in the snow. There were no cherries in Nairobi, and for years I longed to eat cherries. Of course, the correct response to an insatiable desire is to satisfy it. And so, if you’ve been longing to read and see something different, humanist, socialist, and nutritious, then we have provided you, dear reader, with a feast of articles, interviews, stories, poetry, food writing, and comment to gorge on. No paywall. Just for the plucking. The sweet, the salty, the savoury, the bitter, but never the sour, all laid out for you in this issue. The irresistible. Suck it and see! Before you, you have a platter of the noteworthy, from a humane socialist perspective, of course.
‘We are witnessing suicide by poetry…upon disappearing, Pessoa left to posterity the murder weapon.’ Ismaël Quti
ARS NOTORIA & THE COLLOQUIUM
What is noteworthy, from a humane socialist perspective?
EDITORIAL
Congratulations to Ars Notoria Participants
ARS NOTORIA IN THE COLLOQUIUM
SCOTLAND & NATIONAL IDENTITY
How a poet feels when he is cancelled by the SNP
J.W.WOOD
Scottish independence is an opportunistic distraction, not a solution rooted in ethnic or historical victimhood
RICHARD STEINHARDT
MASTERS OF POETRY & ANIMATION
Paul Halas Interviews an animation great
GEOFF DUNBAR
SIR ANDREW MOTION
POET OF HONOUR
YOGESH PATEL
FEATURED POET
SURVIVOR POET PERFORMER
PATRICK MCMANUS
PHOTOJOURNALISM
REMEMBERING THE MILLION MAN MARCH
ANDY HALL
FOOD & MEMOIR
Instinct, inheritance and becoming a Masaalchi
ARUN KAPIL
THEN CAME COVID (Part II)
DAVID YIP
WAR, PEACE & SOCIALISM
TRUMP’S SHITSHOW ON THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN
DAVE BLAZER
THE VERY STRANGE SILENCE OF THE WESTERN PEACE MOVEMENT ON UKRAINE
Richard Steinhardt
If the way you follow leads you to advocating for nuclear war, Karaganov, of what use is your way?
RICHARD STEINHARDT
Socialism? What Are We Really Talking About?
DOMZA
An American Conscientious Objector Remembers Vietnam
THOMAS GILBERT
FILM & SHORT STORIES
The Mafia Goes to the Movies
NORMAN B. SCHWARTZ
NOLAN FLINCHES & ODYSSEUS REPENTS
MARTINA WINTER
‘No Police, Please. No Police’
TINA BEXSON
Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Ivan Petrov
FRANCESCA YOUNG
ESSAYS & LITERARY CRITICISM
The Liturgy of Ordinary Things
YOGESH PATEL ON MICHEAL SCHMIDT’s Shifting Poetics
Lisbon Notes: The Laughter of Pessoa
Ismael Diadié Haidara
Umberto Eco’s ‘Numero Zero’, the Last Novel
ABRAHAM CHINCHILLAS
On Looking Into John Ruskin’s Praeterita
MARTINA WINTER
POETRY
RED
SUDEEP SEN
SONNETS AND SENNETS ON POWER
PETER COWLAM
Ancestral Skulls
John WebsteR
SURVIVAL
SONNET MONDAL
Black River
RACHAEL BOAST
SILVER SHADOWS
SYLVIA VETTA
SIX POEMS
JOHN GREENING
Is this where it begins?
MARY MULHOLLAND
Nativity
MARIA HEATH
TWO POEMS TO KEEP POETS HUMBLE
YOGESH PATEL
TALKING OF MICHELANGELO
ROGER MURPHY
Removals
valentina rojas
Rose Sud
DUSTIN PICKERING
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & LANGUAGE
A World Speaks Its Technology
PHIL HALL
The Frame Problem Has Not Gone Away
PHIL HALL
THE TECH BROS USE AI TO GASLIGHT HUMANITY
PHIL HALL
REIMAGING EVOLUTION AS A CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PARTS & WHOLES
PHIL HALL
RELIGION & COMMUNITY
REFLECTIONS ON A QUAKER LONDON AREA MEETING
MARTINA WINTER
CONTRIBUTORS
WITH MANY THANKS
PAST ISSUES
JULY 2026 ~ issue 5 vol 2
may2026 ~ issue 4 vol 2
APRIL 2026 ~ issue 3 vol 2
march 2026 ~ issue 2 vol 2
FEBRUARY 2026 ~ issue 1 vol 2
DECEMBER 2025 ~ issue 7 vol 1
NOVEMBER 2025 ~ issue 6 vol 1
OCTOBER 2025 ~ ISSUE 5 vol 1
SEPTEMBER 2025 ~ ISSUE 4 VOL 1
AUGUST 2025 ISSUE 3 VOL 1
JULY 2025 ~ ISSUE 2 Vol 1
JUNE 2025 ~ ISSUE 1 VOL 1
POSTS
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GOATS FOR THE PEOPLE OF PASHTUN ZARGHUN
By Inge Colijn During my 27 years of work for United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, I lived in many countries and they all became special to me. But some places like Afghanistan mean more. I was told at our headquarters in Geneva that people from abroad working in Afghanistan would either love being…
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DANCING TO THE BEAT OF MY ART
Detail from Pure Bliss, Tasneem Shaikh Exhibiting at the World Art Fair in 2022 and 2023 by Tasneem Shaikh My heart races unusually fast. My joy has no bounds. For the first time, I am exhibiting my paintings at a major event, at World Art Dubai (WAD). It is March 2022. So far, I…
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SAINT JOHN OF THE RABBITS
Paricutín erupting, by Dr. Atl by Philip Hall I married into a large and regionally important Mexican family, and so got to know some parts of Mexico quite well. I lived there, first as a student at the university of Vera Cruz in the early eighties, later in Mexico City as a teacher, and…
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OPEN LETTER TO THE ALIENS
From July 12 to 29, 1952, a series of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings were reported in Washington, D.C. and later became known as the Washington flap You aliens are sociopaths – Interstellar Jeremy Clarksons by Phil Hall If you come to Earth, into our communities as a guest, then you must give an account of yourselves. If you don’t…
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1. ISOBAL & HENRY
Picture of Isobel and Joseph by Margaret Yip I was born in the middle of Clement Attlee’s term as prime minister in 1949. I was the fourth child born to my parents. My mother, Isobal, had been in service before marriage, and my father, Henry, was a miner. After my birth, they went on…
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CON’S SHAKESPEAREAN GARDEN
Visits to the Merlin of Coombe Hill by Phil Hall Con lives in the house he was born into more than 60 years ago. Everyone notices it from the street; partly because it looks run down and partly because there are sometimes cats in the front garden. One of the cats was bitten by…
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Tagore Prize Awarded to Sudeep Sen
The cover of Anthropocene, by Sudeep Sen Review by Peter Cowlam All of us here at Ars Notoria are delighted at the news that our poetry editor, Sudeep Sen, has been awarded the prestigious Tagore Prize for 2021–22. The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize, a literary honour in India conferred annually for published works by…
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HAMBA KAHLE, HARRY
Harold Voigt, South African Painter 1st May 1939 – 9th October 2022 by Leigh Voigt How does one give an unbiased, honest appraisal of one’s own husband and have the gall to call it an obituary? Does one resort to clichés? Borrow words from the pens of others? No, one hones in on an…
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KING CHARLES III HAS A SACRED TASK
Dissolve the institution of Monarchy! by Philip Hall The idea that Charles III is divinely appointed to rule over us is ridiculous! Yet, ultimately, it is the metaphysical idea of the divine right of kings that gives King Charles III his legitimacy as the head of state. Ordinary British people are not citizens, but…
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OBITUARY: BRYAN GREETHAM, TEACHER, WRITER & THINKER
By Pat Rowe Bryan Greetham (1946-2022) the writer and thinker, died on Sunday 26th June in Estepona, Spain. Above all, Bryan wanted to help students of all ages be the best thinkers possible. Bryan was born in Faversham, Kent. He failed the 11 plus exam and went to a secondary modern school. But this…
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