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Was a HUGE privilege to be invited to speak at TEDx Exeter in April this year. I was given 12 minutes to speak on piracy, so decided to take one aspect of Mutiny! and look at how pirates work to defend and enrich the commons. In preparing the talk it struck me that TED is actually
Pancake Day falls this coming Tuesday in the UK… thought I’d post a few thoughts about its origins, and how we might use them to think beyond…well, munching loads of pancakes. Like so many traditions over here, Pancake Day has some origins in the Christian calendar… Shrove Tuesday, as it has historically been known, is
Really nice video here (thanks to Luke Sital Singh for pushing it my way) from the Do Lectures weekend in 2011, at which the Director of Digital content at the British Film Institute, Paula Ledieu, gives a short history of copyright, what’s gone wrong with it, and how it needs to be fixed. This
As I build up to coming over the US to speak about Mutiny in about a month’s time – details to follow soon – I’m going to be blogging a bit more about the book, and the wide themes that it covers. Reading Tad Delay’s blog today though, inspired me to mention a perspective on
One of the nicest parts about publishing a book is getting the feedback from people once they’ve read it. Not the reviews – that’s more distant – but actual readers on the ground. With Mutiny! (which is on special 25% discount for the next few days) what’s been interesting is hearing people’s reactions to
Back in London for a few days after a great break in Italy. It’s been great hearing how much people are enjoying the book and being challenged by it. Keep the reviews coming – as tweets or blog posts or, if you’re able to, on Lulu and Amazon too. As I’ve said before, one of
The Rolling Stones celebrate 50 years since their first gig today… a gig at which they moaned ‘We’re a blues band, I hope no one thinks we’re going to play rock and roll…’ Since that time they have sold hundreds of millions of records and made ridiculous amounts of money… all out of ripping off
Good to see the comments on the previous post, in which I was trying to open up a bit about the prevalence of depression among writers. I’ve been mulling on that a bit, and thinking about why teachers (curses – I’m that too) also rank as professionals with some of the highest rates of depression.
As we come round to 10 years since 9/11 I wanted to do a quick plug of Other, for the simple reason that it meets head on the challenges of living in a world where difference so desperately needs to be understood. Whether it’s personal issues of depression or the alienating effects of technology, or
Apologies for dodgy sound quality – just put my phone to record by the PA, but the audio of my talk at Wild Goose is available here: The feedback from Wild Goose has been incredibly positive. Well done to all those who put it together – it deserves to have a really positive impact on