Friday Fun 44: Weeping after the shrink (Q’s 1000th post, appropriately enough)
A man has been seeing a psychiatrist for many years. It has been a lifeline for him. But friends were shaken to see him emerge from a consultation in floods of tears, strange because this was the first time it had happened in 12 years. When he calmed down, he was asked what had happened […]
Friday Fun 43: HERO – A new poem by Jonathan Rye
Spending time at L’Abri is always a rewarding experience. Last time, I was able to sit down and chat with Dutch film-maker Jaap van Heusden. This time, I managed to complete a whole chapter of the book I’m working on, and get to know lots of great new people . One in particular is a wry, dry, […]
Václav Havel’s 1978 warning to the West
I’m trying to understand power – what it means, how it’s wielded, how it affects us. Big topic. But I’m increasingly convinced that we can’t understand the culture of suspicion without grasping the power of power (and itsabuses). This has drawn meto someone who has been a bit of a hero, but whose writings I’d […]
Friday Fun 42: Beware the narrowing of the circles in which you move and have your being
My mind is steeped in the mad and self-referential world of conspiracy theories at the moment, as I try to make a way through to something coherent. So this great cartoon from last week’s New Yorker nailed it for me.
CS Lewis exposes the humbling reality when anyone prays
C. S. Lewis was a great burster of pride’s balloons. His Screwtape Letters are a masterful model in how to do that. But he was only able to take aim with such accuracy that because he had come face to face with his own pride. And these two poems illustrate that perfectly. They take seriously […]
Let the meaning choose the word: Orwell on political language
It has its gainsayers (eg Steven Poole is pretty disparaging, though unfairly in my view) but George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language (the whole essay is online), is prophetic. Of course some of his linguistic concerns are matters of taste and fashion (as Steven Poole rightly notes). But written at the close of the […]
Q marks the spot – Treasure Map 57 (June 2013)
Sacred Treasure John Crace at his hilariously trenchant best, reducing Steve Jones’ The Serpent’s Promise to 600 words. Culture, Class and the Decline of Marriage by Ross Douthat. Very helpful insights into the wider context of recent gay marriage debates on both sides of the Atlantic. While Brendan O’Neill sees the whole issue as a case […]
