radiobeartime

Things Fall Apart

Today a Civil Servant resigned. That happens. It’s not unusual. I myself quit 2 years ago to save my sanity in the face of unsustainable cognitive dissonance. But it is unusual when a Civil Servant resigns stating, “I am also at a stage in life where I would prefer to do something more rewarding withContinue reading “Things Fall Apart”

The Price of Survival

I have spent a lot of this weekend playing Destiny1. In Destiny your character is one of the last defenders of humanity in the face of monstrous alien enemies. You do not fight alone, as well as the human defenders there are the Warminds. The Warminds are AIs, built by humanity and then self-evolving toContinue reading “The Price of Survival”

Impermanent Secretary

The Labour Party have decided that the biggest barrier to the successful delivery of their political agenda are the Permanent Secretaries who run government departments. This is sometimes known as the “Grand Vizier” theory of organisational inertia. I worked for many different Perm Secs in my time and they were as mixed a bag asContinue reading “Impermanent Secretary”

The Joy of Uselessness

I have a confession. I am useless at Destiny 2. For those who have never played it, Destiny 2 is a game where you run around the solar system fighting aliens, finding new weapons and armour, and falling off of the scenery. The first two are core to the game, the third is my ownContinue reading “The Joy of Uselessness”

Primum non nocere at the end of the world

Climate change is the largest, most complex problem we as a species face. So we are addressing it in the classic human manner through a mixture of displacement activities, making things worse and hiding our heads in the sand. The sand left by the melted glaciers and vanished ice caps. This is understandable. The problemContinue reading “Primum non nocere at the end of the world”

Sound One

Bears

unsplash-logoFrancesco De Tommaso

An Adventure of Keats and Chapman

Keats and Chapman had travelled to the Lakes in search of peace and the possibility of artistic inspiration, at least that was Keats’ idea. However the weather had been terrible and the inn where they were staying was notable only for its leaking roof and the vileness of its beer. The two friends had grownContinue reading “An Adventure of Keats and Chapman”

Dreams

Dreams have always intrigued mankind. For some they are a window into the deepest recesses of the human soul, to others they are a source of obscure portents and signs, and for some they are just noise – the sleeping mind seeking to make sense of stray synapses firing at random. Often dreams have beenContinue reading “Dreams”