An empire is toppling. Years of brutal oppression, divide-and-rule, are culminating in terror and a tragedy of biblical proportions. Param Singh mounts his horse. Looping the reins across a wrist, he turns and bends down to lift his little daughter from his wife’s hands, the child’s arms and legs already waving with excitement, loving these […]
politics
Beware: Theft-in-Progress
Forget partygate, Sue Gray’s report (not that I demean its seriousness) or the calls for Johnson’s resignation (not that I approve of law-breaking) but none of these events will change the direction of travel for Britain; the co-ordinates have been set, the actors are in mid-play and the denouement appears inevitable. Authoritarianism. Accompanied by the […]
Parasite Politics and Everyday Dreams
‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on.’ (The Tempest. Act 4. Scene 1). Shakespeare could never have known how this line would transmute into the throbbing heart of political dramas in the 21stcentury, connecting the people and the parasite; becoming both promise and betrayal. Voters dream of jobs and homes while politicians and […]
Kill The Bills
‘Kill the Bill,’ shout protestors in English cities. ‘Death to the farm laws,’ cry Indian farmers, in their protest camps. ‘New Jim Crow laws,’ denounces the President of the US himself, of the new election laws passed by the state of Georgia. In the midst of a global pandemic, the world is in social and […]
Challenge!
We’re in the hands of primitive men. Two decades into the 21st century, the UK, the USA, and India, are ruled by men whose grasp of governance is so tribal, so corrupt, and so self-interested as to render them obsolete to the modern order. And yet there they are. The only silver lining, the only beacon […]
Dignity: A Radical Tool in Politics
The Amazon on fire. Trump in office. UK heading towards Brexit catastrophe. Modi marching into Kashmir. Glaciers melting. Plastic pollution. Hong-Kong protests…. And in Britain, Parliament, the Mother of Parliaments itself, is being prorogued. In essence, being arbitrarily shut down for a significant number of days, just as the deadline for Brexit looms ever nearer. […]
Love, Shakespeare and War
As Britain’s prime minister convenes a ‘War Cabinet’ and moves British submarines within missile range of Syria, I would like to take a moment. To talk about love, Shakespeare and Emma Rice, whose role as Artistic Director of the Globe will end this month. I was riveted by Emma Rice’s introduction to the Globe Theatre’s […]
Democracy and Dictator Trump
(photo: Business Insider) On the eve of a momentous presidential election in the United States, ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear from – Immanuel Kant. “Only two things inspire genuine awe: the starry sky above and the moral law within.” Kant went on to define a good will, as part of this moral law […]