Kester Brewin

I’ll add my praise to the fantastic debut feature ‘The Lives of Others‘. It really is a remarkable film. For those of you who haven’t seen it, it follows the story of a Stasi Officer assigned to bug and follow the life of a writer under suspicion in 1980′s East Germany. Through what he overhears [...]

From David Byrne’s journal: According to Einstein we’ve got a little over 4 years. Here’s a quote from him: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” And [...]

Thanks to Ben for the link: “Blogs,” [Oliver Kamm] wrote, “typically do not add to the available stock of commentary: they are purely parasitic on the stories and opinions that traditional media provide.” In The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland pointed out that the abusive, vitriolic nature of many blogs had turned the blogosphere into a “claustrophobic [...]

A few of us have been reading Marilynne Robinson’s wonderful novel Gilead recently. I can’t recommend it highly enough. One episode jumped out at me last night. The trickster, the Prodigal perhaps, of the novel is debating faith with the protagonist, an old preacher, when he asks: ‘Do you ever wonder why American Christianity always [...]

The release of Cho’s video all over the media is just another example of technology being used without proper restraint, not unlike the shooting itself. It’s a horrific violation of those suffering. In a previous post, and in the comments that followed, I was trying to probe a link between these killings and the spate [...]

How ridiculous is this? Two people arrested and cautioned for ‘stealing’ wifi. I can’t believe the Police actually wasted time on this to be honest. Andrew Jones should watch out – his crawls for WiFI are legendary, and have even prompted him to call for software to help Moral: don’t be a dumb-ass. If you’ve [...]

What a terrible tragedy in Virginia. The families – and whole community – are in my thoughts and prayers as they try to find some way through this. The soul-searching has already begun here. The UK press have been pointing out the all too frequent nature of these such attacks. Guns and stressful modern life [...]

We have been supporters of the Palestinian cause for a long time. It’s a simple matter of justice: a people need a viable state, and protection from an under-the-radar occupation that is clearly illegal under UN law. Poverty is extreme, unemployment sky-high, human rights violated on a day to day basis. Having been there, I [...]

The ever-brilliant Believer magazine – the highlight of my reading month – carries a wonderful dual essay by Scott and James Browning about their respective trips to the North and South Poles with their mother. Scott Browning’s piece on the North Pole trip is wonderful. He describes the utter non-place-ness of it. There are in [...]

In a piece on the myth of ‘Internet Neutrality’ The Guardian quoted Professors Marshall Van Alstyne and Erik Brynjolfsoson, who, way back in 1997, wrote that, "With the customised access and search capabilities, individuals can arrange to read only news and analysis that align with their preferences. Individuals empowered to screen out material that does [...]