Author Archives
We are in favour of humane, democratic socialism
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Dear Phil, Sorry for not writing…Trump got in the way
By Stephanie Urdang Dear Phil, I haven’t forgotten about your request to write something for Ars Notoria. Your faith in me and my ability to produce something worthwhile is gratifying. But at the moment Trump and his lies and his… Read More ›
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#17 Depression by Dan Pearce
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Depression #16 by Dan Pearce
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What can you do about your future?
By Pete Field We need to be better people. Would you torture your own children? Would you destroy their future? Would you sell out your family and friends for cash? If you could, would you wipe out the world?We love… Read More ›
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Sorry, it was an accident
How we kill and never think about it In the mid-sixties driving in the countryside meant squashed insects on the windscreen, sometimes hundreds of them. You had to get the wipers going, smear them off with water. Now our insect… Read More ›
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A Shared Vision of the North Downs Way
Phil Hall Well, 2007 was a bad year for me. I felt an enormous pressure. I started to look at maps to see where I could go. We live in South West London in a beautiful part of the city,… Read More ›
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Would you like a Bushbaby?
Phil Hall Someone from the countryside was selling a young bush-baby in a corner of Dar-es-Salaam market. Mom was smitten. She bought it. Let’s see this creature sweet enough to melt Mom’s resolve. Look, boys. she said, coming in through the door…. Read More ›
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Escaping the The Monkey Trap
By Bryan Greetham. Rodin’s Thinker at the Louvre in Abu Dhabi. Photo, Phil Hall We are busy producing a generation of the most sophisticated recyclers of received opinion In Robert Pirsig’s best-selling book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,… Read More ›
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‘Other’ Covid-19 pandemic success stories
Anyone paying attention? By Dale T. McKinley Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, much of world’s public as well as media attention have been focused on those countries hardest hit. From the early and widespread outbreaks in China, Italy,… Read More ›
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Tony Hall’s Interview with Yves Montand
Yves Montand in Nairobi in 1966 On the face of it it may seem strange for a film star to speak so much on politics. But for Yves Montand and his wife, Simone Signoret, one of the really distinguished couples… Read More ›
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a genie’s ease
When poets are publishers, other poets forget to notice them as poets. Thus, Todd Swift has remained a hidden diamond. So, to highlight his work, it delights us at Ars Notoria to bring his poem to you this month. It plays at many levels concealing the harshness directed elsewhere from the poem’s apparent impression!
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Jeremy Corbyn and The Psychological Agony of the Left
By Phil Hall After the failure of the revolution in 1905 in Russia many of the revolutionaries despaired. Some of them committed suicide, while others slunk off to Great Britain which gave them refuge. This was a moment of Thermidor,… Read More ›
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U.S. Wildfires—a national emergency in the midst of a pandemic
By Karen Phillips When I began writing this article on the wildfires raging in the United States, horrific events were happening simultaneously in several states. As my research progressed, instead of having less to write about I found more escalation,… Read More ›
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#15 Depression, by Dan Pearce
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Wake up in Uruapan
By Felipe Elvira Imagine waking up in Uruapan. Many thousands of Uruapenses who have crossed the border over into the USA dream of doing just that. They make films about it. Uruapan, with its orchards and breathtakingly beautiful national park… Read More ›
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Cartoon Brexit Villains
By Rob Hyde On the face of it, given how my country-hopping life in Europe turned out, I should have been made an EU pin-up boy. On the face of it, given how my country-hopping life in Europe turned out,… Read More ›
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# 14 Depression by Dan Pearce
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If You are such a Badass, Join a Trade Union
By Phil Hall By Phil Hall When you look at the mountain of self-help books you should laugh. This is the correct response to most of them. Each one usually contains only one or two interesting ideas. Typically, these ideas… Read More ›
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Lance the Boil in the Collective Unconscious of the USA
Make a Film about the life of Angela Davis By Phil Hall It’s fascinating to see how films or books or musicians who really epitomised the zeitgeist and hit the spot sometimes plunge out of sight. What a good film… Read More ›
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The Balloonist
By Phil Hall On the 22nd of April 1992. There were 10 petrol-gas explosions in northern Guadalajara, killing at least 242 people, injuring up to 600 and destroying 8 kilometres of city streets making 15,000 people homeless. But the southern-central… Read More ›
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Travels in an Oxcart in South Africa at the Turn of the 19th Century
By Connie Hall Arthur Lewis Hall was a fellow of the Royal Society, a winner of the Murchison Medal and credited by the makers of Earth Story, a BBC documentary, with being one of the first geologists to guess the real… Read More ›
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Superhero Status Anxiety
K, a superhero, finds working as an ESL teacher tough… By James Royce Mcguire It’s wacked. Here he is living the life of a superhero, not angry at anyone, simply living his life and there she is. A half-cat creature… Read More ›
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Tony Hall’s Interview with Nelson Mandela in Hiding
It was 1961, I was a reporter on the main SA daily newspaper The Star. The African National Congress had been banned by the white Apartheid government, and its leaders house arrested and not allowed to meet or speak publicly. Nelson Mandela, a Johannesburg lawyer,… Read More ›
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Editorial, July 2020
In July we began the month with a powerful argument against Rebecca Long-Bailey’s dismissal by Richard House published by Paul Halas. It had a large number of other signatories. The article was widely read and then republished elsewhere. There is… Read More ›
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Liberalism and Worker Ownership, not Das Kommunism.
By Neil Newman One of the most striking facets of the secular religion Marxism is the almost complete lack of a model for the post-revolutionary society. What are the economic relations of that society? How does that society continue on… Read More ›
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# 13 Depression by Dan Pearce
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So, you want to learn a new language?
By Philip Hall For more than 30 years I have been teaching people how to speak, write, read and listen in English with some success. I was a Spanish teacher, too for a while. Spanish is the language that I… Read More ›
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Understanding risk
By Bryan Greetham In this period of COVID-19 it is essential that we understand risk and to do so means we need a basic understanding of the statistics involved in assessing risk. On 23 rd August, Professor Chris Whitty, the… Read More ›
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Andy Hall’s photographic career began with a Big Bang
On and off, for over thirty years, Andy Hall has aimed his camera at The City of London My adult life began at the end of the 70’s, more or less in line with the beginning of Neo-liberalism, which over… Read More ›
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What the left forgets about Israel: the longing for a homeland is legitimate.
Let me explain. When my mother was four it was 1940. She was in Paris with her own mother, a blond bombshell. Harry Piel who discovered Marlene Dietrich also discovered my grandmother. Before my grandfather, an Austrian Jew, swept… Read More ›
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# 12 Depression by Dan Pearce
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Vision
By Keith Woodhouse The night was over And the sea curds crackled And bent, crisply, in the deadening rays Of morning, As she sank into the bank Of the sand speckled Tulip blossom And angry Red spangled pupil sun. The… Read More ›
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#11 Depression by Dan Pearce
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Want to meet the Dalai Lama? Don’t bother.
By Adam Lickley 2017 did not end well for me. I was ‘let go’ from my job, my apartment was flooded, and I spent an uncomfortable night in hospital having my appendix removed. Life was on hold for a while,… Read More ›
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Mandala
My march through the relative silence of nine years Has brought me to a small house With a green garden Two daughters A son and A wife. Where are my brothers? Where are my parents? Where are my uncles and… Read More ›
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So you want to be a dancer?
By Adam Lickley So you fancy being a dancer, huh? And who doesn’t want to be paid to do something they love? Well, that’s the name of the game in the arts world. Only trouble is, that’s what everyone wants,… Read More ›
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Norris McWhirter’s White Rabbit
By Phil Hall The first guided client to be ushered up the slopes of Chomolungma-Sagarmatha by Sherpa Tenzing was brave Sir Edmund. This was the day that the mountain was finally colonised. I wonder, did Sir Edmund Hillary pee on… Read More ›
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#10 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present episode 10 of Dan Pearce’s groundbreaking graphic novel, Depression.
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Letters from Paul Robeson
Selected by Dominic Tweedie from: Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, Interviews, 1918-1974 Paul Robeson was a superstar in the USA in the 1930’s and 40’s despite the fact that he was African American. In 1915 he was twice an All… Read More ›
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Fascism and Conspiracy
Modern conspiracy theory and the appeal of fascism and racism for the working class By Bryan Greetham In my first contribution to this discussion about fascism I examined the claim that fascism was a last ditch response to failing capitalism…. Read More ›
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#9 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the ninth episode in the comic series, Depression, by Dan Pearce
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Fascism offered a return to pre-industrial society
National Socialism offered the lower middle class a way of side-stepping the choice between liberalism or socialism. It offered a return to traditional German values. By Bryan Greetham I wanted to take up the claim that fascism was a last… Read More ›
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Stand up to Apartheid Israel, you Lily-livered Soft Leftists*
The moment has come for the soft left to develop a backbone and make a stand against reactionary expansionist Zionism. By Phil Hall and Naeem Ali Jundyeh LET’S be clear. It was the United States and British governments who… Read More ›
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Born to Respect the Wild
We grew up up understanding that nature is wild and and dangerous. By Phil Hall In a film that hasn’t really stood the test of time, My Dinner with Andre, one of the characters played by Wallace Shawn says: I… Read More ›
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Catastrophes are not for drama queens
Global warming is real, but it is not an excuse for misanthropes to voice their hatred of humanity. The debate about global warming parallels the debate about nuclear catastrophe. We are as close as we ever were to catastrophe, to… Read More ›
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We need a Great Constitutional Assembly for Great Britain
A Freedom Charter for Great Britain? If we held a constitutional assembly, all the progressive forces in British society could finally agree on a common vision for the future and, having thrashed out this vision, unite around it. This is… Read More ›
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Editorial: June 2020
Welcome to the monthly editorial and welcome to Ars Notoria. Strangely enough, the editorial for June 2020 will be published before the editorial for May 2020, but that is the arsy-varsy, topsy-turvy world of online publishing these days. We are… Read More ›
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#8 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the eighth episode in the comic series, Depression, by Dan Pearce
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Climate change: it’s later than we think
Socialists and capitalists together have ruined the planet. by Pete Field Even though climate scientists tell us we have not much time, their forecasts – despite their academic tentativeness – might actually be too optimistic. We already know for sure… Read More ›
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The Danger of Working Class Fascism
Everyday working class, fascism is real by Phil Hall One of the dirty secrets of history is that fascists can also be working class. Marxists, communists and socialists claim that all fascism comes from the middle and lower middle classes,… Read More ›
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#7 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the seventh episode in the comic series, Depression, by Dan Pearce.
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Is socialism a partial solution to discrimination?
Is the solution to racism, misogyny and prejudice a nicer capitalism or do we need a more profound transformation of society? What do we do when a right winger like Priti Patel claims that she is fighting prejudice? Do we… Read More ›
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The Mystery of Apolitical Bob Dylan
By Phil Hall Prospero in his cell busy indwelling, might have time to ponder the mystery of the myth that is Bob Dylan. He is concealed behind a dark blue velvet curtain embroidered in gold; Dylan with a megaphone standing… Read More ›
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Angry and Hungry
– and bloody annoyed at the constant micro and macro racism of the British police By Des Willie My day started as it often does when I’m shooting with the alarm going off way too early and just at the… Read More ›
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#6 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the sixth episode in the comic series, Depression, by Dan Pearce.
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– with The Greatest Of All Time…
In my wildest dreams I never thought I would hang out with my hero, Muhammad Ali. By Andy Hall In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would be hanging out spending time with my hero Muhammad Ali, let alone… Read More ›
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From the forthcoming memoir: Eve and Tony
Extract originally published in The London Magazine By Eve Hall My heroine of very early days was Joan of Arc, whom I loved passionately. I dreamed of martyrdom and detested the English soldiers who burned her at the stake. Every… Read More ›
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How to be a Gourmet
– like Richard Steinhardt By Phil Hall Grandpa was an admirer of Napoleon and this was partly why he chose to live in Golfe Juan in 1972. The other reason they both chose to live in Golfe was because they had… Read More ›
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Allow Me to Spit!
In the USA racism is the collateral damage caused by social inequality and injustice, and a history of slavery, segregation and discrimination. By Phil Hall ‘Killer Mike’ in his emotional response compared the killing of George Floyd by a policeman… Read More ›
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#5 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the fifth episode in the comic series, Depression, by Dan Pearce.
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Guest poet
Anandi Sharan Giving and receiving Giving and receiving isa matter of systems-logic.Listen to the poets!Here it is,metabolising civilisation.Is it not timeto make love?The rest is not in our control.It is up to the system.I once had a mad lifeand was… Read More ›
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Who controls the Surplus?
The Problem of Surplus and the COVID-19 Pandemic. ‘Can we justify £16bn fortunes when nurses are poorly compensated, care workers are on zero-hour contracts and thousand are homeless?’ by Dr. Pete Stanfield dirig ancient Assyrian term for surplus (Veenhof, K…. Read More ›
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No Country is an Island
Song by Richard Tuley: Taking Back Control By Richard Tuley Perhaps it’s distasteful to mention Brexit. People are dying in droves, horribly. The Tories got a resounding mandate. Case closed. The British public bought the lie and now we… Read More ›
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Ideas about Cuba and Che
By Phil Hall When we watched a film about the Mexican revolution starring Pedro Infante in 1997 my wife explained a little about what was going on to our teenage children: ‘Unfortunately, during the Mexican revolution, our family was on… Read More ›
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The Poetry of Markets
One of the greatest pleasures in my grandfather’s life was to visit the market in Cannes, to admire the variety and quality of the produce on offer and to chat to some of the stallholders. Covered markets in Spain are… Read More ›
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4# Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the fourth episode in the comic series by Dan Pearce.
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Abandon the Cities!
The revolutionary environmentalist, Anandi Sharan, argues that to meet 2050 zero carbon emissions the government must give each of us 1/2 an acre of land. By Anandi Sharan Political economy in developed countries has as its aim some version or… Read More ›
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Tread Softly Starmer, You Tread on Our Dreams
LISTEN TO THE LEFT STARMER, OR GO! Masks off! Keir Starmer got elected as Labour leader under false pretenses. At the next Labour leadership election he will be sent into oblivion. Keir Starmer, like Tom Watson, got into his position… Read More ›
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3# Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the third episode in the comic series by Dan Pearce.
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A Personal Vision of Richmond Park and Beyond
by Philip Hall Richmond Park is not far away from us. It’s easy to reach it and to walk in it. We enter by the Kingston Gate and from there walk to the Ham Gate. At the Ham gate there… Read More ›
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Poem of the Month
In Search of Salt – by Yogesh Patel There is a jungle in this desert! The baboons of media are having a breakfast of Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Write as much as you wish on the sand from your oasis, where your… Read More ›
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Is Keir Starmer a Blairite or a Corbynite?
Take our survey.
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Two Tall Trees
Two Tall Trees There’s a window in the bathroom and if you stand at the bottom of the stairs you can see 2 tall trees through it. And if you walk 2 steps up you can see the leaves on… Read More ›
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You are in for a big surprise
Sandeep Saxena wants us to grow our food in forests By Anandi Sharan Sandeep Saxena graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology and the India Institute of Management and from a postgraduate in the USA before going to work for… Read More ›
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Social Darwinism: the deadly poison at the heart of reason
by Philip Hall The cast system is inhuman. FGM seems impossibly cruel. Look at the Taliban: Malala got a bullet in the head just for going to school. Look at forced marriage, at child marriage. How can that be tolerated?… Read More ›
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Road of Dreams
Socialism? What are we talking about? By Dominic Tweedie The communists mean to show the way – as a vanguard – through revolution, to a classless, stateless condition called communism. The agent of revolution is not a communist party. Since… Read More ›
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2# Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the second episode in the comic series by Dan Pearce.
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Kondratiev and the next K-Wave
By Emil Blake In 1925 a Russian economist, called Nikolai Kondratiev published a book called Major Economic Waves in which he predicted the rise and fall of economic prosperity driven by new, era-defining technologies. The crux of it, according to… Read More ›
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We Were Caught in the Neo-liberal Trap
But now we have another pivotal moment. By Bryan Greetham Before the Second World War a German chemist was working to discover what we would call today an antibiotic. Each evening he would leave out Petri dishes with bacteria in… Read More ›
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Down with Lockdown!
What do you do when the cure does you more harm than the disease? You stop taking it. Controversially, James Tweedie puts forward an argument for lock-down to be lifted. By James Tweedie, Plymouth, England, Friday May 15 th 2020… Read More ›
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Don’t Tear Up your Labour Membership Card
WHAT IS TO BE DONE? By Phil Hall The British Disease is passive aggression. It is class hatred not class warfare. Class warfare is healthy, it leads to revolution and change. Class hatred, on the other hand, results in ordinary… Read More ›
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“YOUR BOYS TOOK ONE HELL OF A BEATING!”
The demoralisation of grassroots Labour. By Paul Halas The Stroud Labour CLP meeting to nominate its preferred leadership candidate back in January was packed, yet the atmosphere was sober and subdued. Members were permitted a two minute slot to talk… Read More ›
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Holi, Holi, Holi
Celebrations in the streets of Dharavi, Mumbai By Andy Hall The principle practice in street photography, and why I love it, is the immersive experience. That’s the only way you’re going to snatch those serendipitous, split-second moments you long for, as… Read More ›
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Humanity’s Rosy Fingered Dawn: 2020
By Phil Hall Covid-19 arrives, We sit at home for a long while. The cities empty, the air clears and bird song seems louder. Translucent jellyfish float up the canal and goats clop through a Welsh hill town. We all… Read More ›
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To the undertakers
By Yogesh Patel To the undertakers A preview of myself is a hidden mirror in a selfie mirror. I have always been brutal on the soliloquising Houdini! Yet, I have kept vultures at bay in this Dakhma. The undertakers have… Read More ›
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Why Did the Working Class Vote Tory?
by James Tweedie, Plymouth, May 6th 2020 The one-word answer is: “Brexit.” The Labour Party backed the losing side in the 2016 UK referendum on leaving the EU, despite then-leader Jeremy Corbyn’s 40 years of opposition to British membership of… Read More ›
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Mon Oncle
By Paul Halas On my very infrequent visits to Paris, passing Drancy Station on the RER suburban line between Orly Airport and Paris is always a poignant experience. My Uncle Ladis – Ladislaw – spent some time there during World… Read More ›
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#1 Depression
Ars Notoria is pleased to present the first episode in the comic series by Dan Pearce.
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How to defeat Covid-19
By Phil Hall In China the barefoot doctors believed in prevention rather than cure. So how can we make societies like ours more resilient to pandemic infections like Covid-19? Well, we could advocate for a more humane society. That would… Read More ›
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CONSERVATIVES’ NHS HYPOCRISY
By Paul Halas Our television has led a charmed life in recent weeks. Every time a Conservative minister appears behind a lectern emblazoned with “Protect the NHS” it’s a miracle the set isn’t smashed by a flying vase. Abraham Lincoln… Read More ›
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Why?
“we hope we have not cast a Pearl before the swine, but set a glass before the grateful doves.” From Robert Turner 12 March 1656 make my tongue as a sharp knife to ever express a special eloquence these things, words… Read More ›