“Freedom of information” and “open data” as concepts of governance have modern associations, partly because a steady progress is widely presumed from “closed” … More
Category: History
A History of the World in Admin
(Mortimer, A. E., Press tbc, forthcoming). It is pretty clear that one of the biggest divisions in the Brexit debate … More
Wine-dark sea and violet sheep: what difference could climate make to colour perception?
It seemed the Greeks lived in murky and muddy world, devoid of colour, mostly black and white and metallic, with … More
HyperNormalisation
In response to one person asking public demand, a couple of thoughts arising from the new Adam Curtis documentary HyperNormalisation released … More
I dream of islands: the Dubrovnik project, part 1
I dream of islands And city states Marble on marble, wave on wave The towers rise from Byron’s pages Disrupt … More
A history/archaeology of Crazy Shit
I have a belief about beliefs Posit: certain beliefs cluster. Through an unknown combination of crowd effect (you like the … More
How to think about the entrenched wealth of the aristocracy
I was recently talking to a constitutional historian whose main interest is in the royal family. He was frustrated and … More
The Mind Shapes the City – adventure at the Whitechapel Gallery
I am in Adventures of the Black Square. This is a sprawling exhibition of abstract art produced between 1915 and … More
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
On Wednesday, to Housman’s bookshop in King’s Cross, a place I am making a habit of, to hear Jeff Laster … More
Unreviewed! Sapiens: a Brief History of Humankind
There are two kinds of popular history book: the cameo and the synthesis. Historians find it easy to fit cameos … More
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