Category Archives: Uncategorized

The last time that people in Britain – some of them, at any rate – got seriously exercised about ‘inequality’, as opposed to simple ‘poverty’, was a hundred years ago. The key work then – the rough equivalent of Richard … Continue reading →

On our Swedish island for the weekend. Beautiful autumn weather, a blazing log stove, and plenty of wine. It seems a world away from Donald Trump; but of course you can’t avoid him even here, and if he is elected … Continue reading →

Liam Fox’s encomium to global free trade, delivered recently in Manchester, the original home of the idea  (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/30/globalisation-poverty-corruption-free-trade-liam-fox), gives me an excuse to re-post this blog of mine from April this year, on the early Victorian version of the ideology, which Fox appears … Continue reading →

Four or five years ago I had an unusually painful experience with one of my publishers, and decided to write about it for the THES. They eventually published the article, but only after it had been ‘lawyered’ almost to death. So, … Continue reading →

A small gripe. I get a bit fed up with Swedish friends suggesting – even jokingly – that I must have some latent ‘imperialist’ DNA in me because I’m British, and even more when they learn that I write about … Continue reading →

Having resisted commenting on the Clinton-Trump ‘debate’, on the grounds of lack of expertise, I may have something to contribute based on my long historical view. For me, the telling episode in the debate came when Trump justified certain anti-social … Continue reading →

I’ve changed both the title and the design of this blogsite. (Ben, the ‘Happiness Engineer’ (sic) at WordPress.com, was very helpful.) The ‘Search’ facility should be useful. And I now have a ‘domain’: ‘bernardjporter.com’, though I don’t yet know what … Continue reading →

Yes, we woke up at 3 a.m. (Swedish time) to watch The Debate. And yes, we were predictably appalled by Trump, and – in my case less predictably – impressed by Clinton. But I have nothing original to contribute here … Continue reading →

Capitalism may be a lot of good things, but one thing it isn’t is creative. It almost never originates new or great things; only develops them, at best, or exploits them, for the profit of others, and often arguably to … Continue reading →

(PERSONAL) Since starting this blog I’ve been diagnosed – well, not exactly diagnosed, as there’s no test for it, but all the symptoms fit – with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, otherwise known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME); which is why I find … Continue reading →