Oxfam’s latest report exposes and estimates the extent to which the world’s wealth is becoming ever more concentrated. I draw below on Larry Elliott’s summary (Guardian 21 Jan 2019). The figures are truly astounding, even allowing for a public sense of data-fatigue around the assets of the super-rich. The 26 richest billionaires now own as… Read More »
For no sensible reason I can conjure up in my defence I was disappointed in 2017 to read (just) under two books a week. Well, 2018 went that little bit better: as it happened, I read 107 compared with 2017’s 102. Ok, I entirely accept that doing such sums is strange, maybe a little worrying.… Read More »
I have yet to decide what areas or topics to address next, having more or less run out of steam on stigma and health inequalities. I haven’t lost interest in these two old faithfuls, it’s just that, unless I hit an unexpected and exciting new stream, I’m only edging forward and at risk of becoming… Read More »
A year or so ago, having delivered a urine sample showing an unusually high sugar content, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It was fortuitous, unrelated to the rationale for the test, an unexpected outcome. The first GP I saw said he was reluctant to call it out as diabetes prematurely. He put me… Read More »
The whole point of writing of ‘greedy bastards’ was to expose the social structures – above all those of social class – that major owners of capital surf, and with the help of (a) the politicians and state personnel they purchase, and (b) an assortment of old and middle-class allies that facilitate their endeavours, to… Read More »
Philip Green is almost too obviously a greedy bastard, even perhaps an exemplar of the ideal type. He presents as a warts-and-all stereotype (for all that all stereotypes have their errors of omission and commission), and there are many otherwise inclined to baulk at my use of ‘greedy bastards’ as a technical term who would… Read More »
In case a reminder is needed, my phrase ‘greedy bastards’ refers neither to a propensity to become obese nor to a readiness to pull the wings off butterflies or mug older and vulnerable citizens. Rather, it denotes the surfing, reflexive or otherwise, of a subset of social structures to one’s personal advantage. Chief among this… Read More »
I’d best open this likely ‘series’ with a word about the technical term ‘greedy bastards’. These comprise that subset of exceptionally wealthy accumulators of capital intent on further accumulation via donating, sponsoring, lobbying and otherwise cajoling favourable policymaking by the state’s power elite. The adjective ‘greed’ captures their all-consuming focus on personal wealth and influence… Read More »
In the second of this series of jottings I broached the issue of fictional data and their authenticity/lack of authenticity in sociology. What about Ken Loach’s I Daniel Blake, a film I’ve seen twice, the second time at UCL’s Institute of Global Health prior to my participation in a panel discussion and question-and-answer session on… Read More »
I agree with Stephen Hawking (Brief Answers to Big Questions, p.38): People want answers to the big questions, like why we are here. They don’t expect answers to be easy, so they are prepared to struggle a bit. When people ask me if a God created the universe, I tell them that the question itself… Read More »