You may recall me mentioning that I’m involved with the local film festival this autumn. As part of that, school have asked me to introduce the film they intend to screen. The film they’ve chosen is Shaun the Sheep, so yesterday, in order to take my mind off other things, I popped to Woolwich to pick up a copy of the DVD. I just gave the film a viewing. I’d expected it to be just an average kids film, but what I found myself watching just now was quite an intricate filmic text ripe for analysis. As you’d expect from Aardman, you can read the film on many levels: for one, there is no (spoken) dialogue whatsoever, so the film can be seen to play with and comment on the conventions of storytelling. It’s also about a group of sheep going to look for their farmer/master lost in the big city, so there’s a lot of our old friend Walter Benjamn in there too: pastoral vs urban, tradition vs modernity etc. I can also see why it is such a good text for a special school to screen: devoid of dialogue, it draws one’s attention to the very mimesis of film, the structures of storytelling and communication.

Introducing it, then, will be most interesting. Before I decide what to say, though, I’ll need to rewatch it a couple more times. I better go get some guidelines from school too: I can see myself getting carried away and doing a full lecture involving Lacan, Benjamin and who knows what else on it. Frankly I’m relishing this opportunity to get back into film analysis again.

For the last few days I have been feeling very, very unhappy indeed at current affairs, but perhaps I better start looking on the bright side of life again. The world has not ended: I still lead a wonderful life; for now at least I’m safe and secure. I still have many happy memories to think about, and lots to look forward to. I’m told our coming out of the EU probably won’t effect our day to day lives that much anyway. Thus, as worried as I am about this country’s future, as angry as I am at my countrymen for allowing theirselves to be fooled by the lies of xenophobes and the horrifying rise in the abuse of immigrants, I still have lots to hold on to and be happy about. What else can one do? Either I smile, or I let fear, bitterness and anger destroy me. After all, who knows what the future holds? Things may even turn out for the best. Thus there’s nothing else to do but to send you here.

I just watched that abomination of a human Farage speak at the emergency session of the european parliament. I was hoping that he would be magnanimous and civilised for once, but I was wrong. I am now shaking with rage at how that utter waste of a human life just stood there insulting the whole parliament. He’s got what he always wanted; he has lied and mislead the nation into utterly screwing itself, yet he still acts like a total prick. He belongs in jail for what he has done and the damage he’s caused, yet he rubs everyone noses in it. I know no words that express my loathing for this man; I begrudge him every breath he draws.

I wonder where they are going to build the concentration camps. Before you tell me to stop being silly, I’m being deadly serious. The UK changed not only politically on Thursday, but socially as well: it took a huge step away from inclusivity and tolerance and towards hatred and xenophobia, We’re already seeing attacks on immigrants up; people are now being abused in the streets by thugs who think the referendum result gives them free reign to express their moronic views. It’s just a matter of time now before such xenophobia becomes the status quo. Pretty soon, any minority will become eyed with suspicion. Disabled people will now begin to be spoken of in terms of being ”burdens to society”; we’ll then start to be ”encouraged” to move into institutions, where we can be ”looked after properly”. This will become even worse after the economy falls through the floor. Isolated and alone, it’s people suffering due to their own stupidity, the country will start destroying itself. And, as ever, the first to go will be those who cannot defend theirselves. Independent living will be a thing of the past, as will be the support I got to go to university. It is only a matter of time before I get wheeled into a gas chamber.

I’m writing this on a train back to London from Manchester after a crazy but much needed weekend. A few weeks ago my old friend Charlotte involved me up for a party, and never having been able to say no to C, I went. Dom put me on a train on Friday, and from then the weekend has flown by, I must say, charlottes timing couldn’t have been better: I needed a big bash to take my mind off things – I think we all did. It was a hell of a party last night, but before then we had spent a great day in a local market, where I had chance to buy some souvenirs. Then it was time to get dressed up and get the party started.

What more can I say? Nobody throws a party like Charlie, and it was awesome meet a few of her Manchester friends. The music was awesome, the food delicious, and you should have even some of the outfits people were wearing. I went to bed at half midnight, and was surprised to find it still going, more or less, when I got up eight hours later. i honestly think it was one of the best parties I will ever go to, a sentiment echoed by most people there, and as my train winds its way back to London, I really hope it’s not too long before I make this journey again.

I used to love this country. I loved it’s green fields and winding lanes; its culture, music and comedy; its quirky little pubs. I loved its quaint towns and mighty capital, which I once thought the greatest city on earth. But how can I love it now? Now its people have turned their back on the world, in an act of mindless stupidity. I cannot. The fields as I pass them now seem tainted; its people, once so aimiable, now seem suspect. Who could love a literature written in the toungue of liars and con men? I once loved this land, but no more!

Words cannot express how angry I am right now. Unable to sleep for most of the night, I got up early to check the news. How the fuck could the people of this country be so stupid? I am literally shuddering with rage, and hold each and every moron who voted Out in contempt. My faith in this country is lost: to me, the UK is now no more than an irrelevant backwater, full of xenophobic halfwits.

[img description=”undefined image” align=”centre”]/images/remain.jpg[/img]

If anyone was wondering what the americans are making of the referendum, I would like to direct you to this excellent New York Times article. Like just about anyone else capable of thought, the writer says we would be insane to leave. It would greatly diminish our status in the world, turning us from great Britain to little England; and the consequences of leaving will be dire, both economically and socially.

With just about everyone bar the outist xenophobes saying such things, it beggars belief that the polls are so close. I am very worried indeed that we will do something stupid tomorrow, to the extent that I’m now losing sleep over it. Could we really be that foolish? Could we really be so inward looking that we’d cut ourselves off from our neighbours, removing ourselves from our biggest market. Could we really throw away something so progressive and hopeful? I’m now really worried about it; the fear of what might happen tomorrow is agonizing.

A few days ago, I got an email from my colleagues at GAD about a seminar on effective political campaigning for disabled people. I initially discounted going: as interesting as it sounded, this week would be mad enough as it stood. But then I thought it might be a useful distraction from fretting about the referendum, it wouldn’t be that hard to get to and I might learn something. So I went.

I’m just on my way back from what proved to be a fascinating afternoon. Five other people, all much more experienced activists than me, attended. It was hosted by a very knowledgable former civil servant, and was basically a presentation cum discussion on the best ways of lobbying members of parliament. Most of the time I just sat and listened, trying to remember as much as I could. I did AS level politics, but this was stuff from an insider who knew the ins and outs of Westminster. Most interesting for me was the idea that social media is becoming increasingly important: when that came up, mentioned my blog, and the others seemed pretty interested in it.

What’s more, I made some pretty valuable contacts up there this afternoon, including the speaker herself. I’m very glad I went. I learned a lot and made friends. I sometimes feel pretty impotent politically; this afternoon helped assuage that feeling a bit. And while it didn’t stop me fretting about thursday completely, it calmed me down and made me feel a little less like the world might end come Friday morning.

I have always said Nigel Farage is a fascist. That word is bandied about so flippantly these days, though, that I wasn’t sure if he actually qualifies as one. However, according to this Independent article, as a schoolboy, the insult to humankind was said by his teachers to have ”fascist” and ”racist” views, and marched around singing Hitler youth songs. These accusations were on channel Four news. I knew the guy was bad, but I didn’t realise he was that far gone. If true, I find it sickening that this man should have anything to do with british politics, let alone currently feature so prominently in it. From the sound of Farage’s comments towards the end of the article, he tries to make light of it, making out he was only winding people up and didn’t mean it. Well I’m not laughing. There is nothing funny about the murder of six million innocent people; this is nothing to joke about. Spare me the act of joviality and respectability, Farage; you’re nothing more than a snivelling little fascist.

The problem with having an EU referendum and an international football competition on at the same time is that, when I’m out and about and I see cars and houses with flags on, I can’t be sure weather it’s a show of anti-EU nationalism or just a show of support for the English football team. Should I be suspicious that the people flying the flags are outists, or just want to show their support for Messrs rooney et al? At the moment it could mean either. I think I better just keep calm and assume that the flags are football-related. With the number of English flags there are currently about, I don’t think doing otherwise would be good for my blood pressure.

I think I’ll just flag this fascinating new blog entry by Lyn up. While I can’t say I completely agree with all of it, I think she is spot on on a lot of stuff. She writes how it is our perception which moulds our sense of reality, and about how that is shaped by things like the media and education. That’s why we must always question everything, she writes. I totally agree. It’s a fascinating insight into how the way the woman I love thinks; something which, due not only to this but our recent conversations, I’m finding increasingly interesting.

I just want to record quite an awesome thing which happened yesterday. Lyn seems to be really flourishing with her new chair. She now goes out in it almost daily, weather permitting. Yesterday, late in the afternoon, we went out together, leaving Dom at home. We firs headed to the chemist to pick up some supplies. We then headed down the road to Blackheath, just for a stroll. When we got there, L said she wanted to go into the Royal Standard pub: she wanted to see if she could get served. I sad ‘sure’, and we went in, heading for a table near the back. Lyn then went up to the bar and typed a request for two juices into her ipad speech app, explaining that we both needed straws and telling the girl where she could find the money. Soon after that, we were both sipping glasses of OJ.

I asked L when she last did that. For as long as I have known her, she’s always had a PA with her to help with such things. I get drinks at bars quite frequently – some would say too frequently – but I’ve never seen lyn do it solo. To my utter surprise and astonishment, Lyn answered that that was her first time ever, and she had never bought a drink like that before. My heart instantly swelled with pride. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to see my fiancee blossoming like this: becoming more and more confident, more and more independent. Getting a new powerchair has changed Lyn, bringing her out into the world, and allowing it to see the lively, vivacious woman I know her to be.

I’m beginning to hate this referendum; it should never have been called. It has become so corrosive and damaging to our society, bringing out the worst in people, that it’s hard to see us recovering from it for a long while, whatever the outcome. Yesterday, an MP was murdered: while it’s too early to talk about motive, there are reports that the attacker was shouting ”Britain First”. The growing consensus seems to be that the attack was referendum related. If that is true, then you have to wonder, what have we become? What has this thing turned us into? A UKIP van is going around with a poster ‘accidentally’ mimicking nazi propaganda. I used to think it was just me being hot-headed and immature, but the whole nation seems to descended into something approaching savagery. Sibling is turning against sibling, friend against friend, parent against son, in a mutual hatred which goes far beyond normal, civilised political discourse. And all for a referendum which, at the end of the day, we did not need, and was only thrown because CaMoron wanted to shut his euroskeptic backbenchers up. What a horrible, fucked-up state of affairs. All this worrying, all this rage and hate, for such a petty thing.

I am not sure how telling this is, but while out and about these last few days, I’ve noticed more and more posters and signs for the Remain campaign in people’s windows, but none for Out. I find that rather encouraging. Of course, that may only be this little corner of South-East London; if I went further afield, I might see more evidence of Outism. Yet I really hope it is a sign that things are not as worrying as the opinion polls would lead us to believe, and that most people have sense enough to vote remain. It’s only a small observation, but an encouraging one.

Today I’d just like to wish my mum a wonderful sixtieth birthday. She and dad are away at the moment, so I might not get to speak to her today, so I’ll say this here: my mother is the most wonderful mum anyone could ever wish for. I know I’m not always the most cooperative of sons; I can be downright awkward at times. But I also know my mum will always be there for me, and that her infinite, unconditional love is a constant source of power for me. These days, mum and I only see each other in the flesh every few months or so. We talk weekly on Skype, of course, chats I look forward to; but that is not the same as sitting at a table with mum with a cup of tea, catching up with the family news. Nor is it the same as standing next to her, cuddling her, feeling the same loving, tender, reassuring embrace that you felt throughout your childhood – an embrace which told you in an instant that, no matter how dire the situation, no matter how deep the cut or big the mess you had made, mum was there so everything would be okay. Those are the cuddles which remind you that you are loved, and they’re the thing I look forward to most every time I see mum. I hope mum knows that I love her too, just as much, and how lucky I feel to have her as my mother – I wouldn’t be where I am today, or have done any of the amazing things I’ve experienced, without her. Happy birthday mum – have a great day.

Yesterday was quite an interesting day. As I mentioned two or three weeks ago, I had to go up to Guy’s hospital for dental procedure. Basically, my last trip to the ‘normal’ dentist didn’t go well: I couldn’t keep my head still, so she sent me up to Guy’s for treatment under sedation.

That happened yesterday. My PA, Dom, pushed me up there in my manual chair; we got there in good time, had a quick coffee, and went in. The doctor and her assistant greeted me/us in that amiable way doctors always seem to have, I transferred into the chair, and, after some talking, they put a needle in my arm. What happened then I cannot really say: things after that are a complete blur. I thought I was fairly conscious, but before I knew it the procedure was over. What felt to me like fifteen minutes was in fact an hour or so. It was fairly surreal, but not altogether unpleasant. I could feel things going on in my mouth, but I couldn’t say what.

When it was all over, I came to pretty quickly. The odd thing is, when the doctor mentioned she was a trekkie and I responded that I had met Patrick Stewart, she said I’d already told her. I had absolutely no memory of doing so, which kind of freaked me out a bit. Nevertheless, soon we were heading home, and after a much needed burger and coffee in the nearby market, I was right as rain. My teeth are apparently not that bad (surprising given I’m always forgetting to brush my teeth), but the doc couldn’t do everything she wanted to, so I’ll have to go back in a few weeks. Now that I know what will happen, though, I’m much less apprehensive; in fact I’m sort of looking forward to it.

I came across some news late yesterday afternoon which I found utterly disappointing and quite heartbreaking: John Cleese, one of my favourite comedians and actors, has come as siding with the outists. I know it shouldn’t matter, and that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but for me this groups him with the xenophobes, nationalists, and short-sighted idiots who would take us out of the EU. I loved Cleese’s comedy, and still cherish the memory of watching Monty Python Live; but this seems like an utter betrayal of everything I thought Cleese stood for. I thought he would be better than that. How can I still laugh at, say, the parrot sketch or french taunter scene, when I know the guy who made them would have us stripped of our rights and the economy opened up to the perverse form of capitalism? This news thus taints something I once held quite sacred, and I am frankly very upset about it.

ADDENDUM: of course I can still laugh at cleese’s comedy; he’s one of the funniest men ever. One should never let politics get in the way of such things. One should be able to disagree with someone politically, yet still admire them.

I would like to register my absolute horror at this story, which has been emerging all day from the states. A gunman has killed fifty people at a gay nightclub in Orlando. While it is too early to be certain of the motive, people are saying it’s a homophobic attack. If that is the case, it’s truly appalling: how can anyone cause so much suffering just because they dislike other peoples’ sexuality. The fact that such things can still go on anywhere in the world, after so much effort has been put into trying to educate people into abandoning such outdated views, is one of the saddest things about this.

I think I’ll just direct you here today, to Lyn’s latest track. A cool, mellow piece, it amazes me how fast she produces stuff. This one, Snappy Heart, was made in just a couple of days after Lyn was inspired by a Ty Unwin video. I think it’s a lovely tune which sort of gets stuck in your head, but also chills you out. Go Listen!

Lyn and I had a great time last night. We decided to go out together, to get dinner. It was a superb evening for it: the sun was beating down, the wind was fairly calm. We made for the other side of Blackheath, where we found a great little pizzaria. I honestly think I had one of the best pizzas I’ve ever tasted there – the cheese on it was so tasty; the meat on it so perfect. On top of that, the place – called Zero Degrees – was a microbrewery, and sold a great range of beers. I only tried a couple last night, but as we left I told myself to head back there soon. Blackheath is a great little area full of character; it sort of reminded me of Maccesfield or Alderly Edge up in Cheshire. It isn’t hard to get to at all: mind you, last night, Lyn lead the way in her powerchair: the way she took us, down roads I had never seen before despite six years of exploration, made my jaw drop at her knowledge of the area. In all, then, it was a great evening out with the woman I love – one definitely worth recording. Watching Lyn grow in confidence since getting her new chair, leading the way and following her nose, is magnificent. I truly hope we have many more nights like it to come.

I have become quite attached to the keyboard I use. I’ve had it for over ten years. I told the learning support staff at Macc college that I preferred to use a Maltron expanded keyboard, so the got me one. That was in about 2002, and since then I’ve used this thing for my batchelor’s then my master’s, as well as to type most of my blog entries. I honestly think I’ve written over half a million words with it. It has stood me in good stead, and I’ve become very fond of it. I’m almost as fast as any ‘normal’ typist on it. Now, though, it’s starting to fail, repeating letters or not registering them when I press the keys. Time to get a new keyboard, I think. It won’t be easy to bid farewell to this old thing after all I’ve used it to do, but it’s time has almost come. I just emailed Maltron to ask how to buy a new one. Goodbye old girl you were great.

After last night, my deep-seated loathing for Nigel Farage is confirmed. How that pestilent, repulsive little xenophobe can have the audacity to come before the nation and tell lie after lie, barely disguising his hatred for those he sees as foreign, is beyond me. Unfortunately, though, we didn’t get the knock out blow I was hoping for: Farage managed to walk away from the argument unscathed; and while CaMoron in my eyes performed much better, he didn’t really put the debate to bed. That worries me greatly: with a day over two weeks to go, I hear some pundits are saying the outists are ahead in the polls. I hope with all my heart that they do not win. They cannot win! It would be a monumental step back for the UK, both socially and politically: Not only would we cut ourselves off from our nearest neighbours, but we’d become an individualistic, inward-looking, greed-driven nation. Farage’s comments about trading more with the commonwealth boil down to an attempt to revive the british empire. That he would prefer a racist, colonial system where britain bossed everyone about over a democratic, pluralist one tells us all we need to know about that abhorrent little xenophobe. I just hope with every fibre of my being that we aren’t stupid enough to be taken in by such folly.

A couple of days ago I came across the videos of one Stefan Molyneux on Youtube, in which he was ‘explaining’ why the UK should leave the EU. It took the form of a webcam conversation with some other guy, and they were spouting the typical right-wing, intellectually void tosh we’ve heard all before: stuff about protecting british culture from foreign influences (but oh no – they aren’t xenophobes!!) I watched about half of it, when, as usual, the old moro reflex kicking in and starting to shake with rage, I left a comment asking why these two morons should be allowed webcams when all they were going to use them for was spew such vapid nonsense over the web.

It was a stupid, facetious comment. I should have taken the time to explain why they were wrong, going through it point by inane point. But in that moment I just wanted to get something out, just to vent my anger. They were being so obnoxious and arrogant: from the way they spoke it was as if they regarded anyone who didn’t agree with them as inferior. It came across as deliberately combative, and that, to me, is like a red rag to a bull.

almost immediately, I started to get replies. Molyneux himself responded that what I said was not an argument – a valid enough point – so I flagged up what I wrote in this entry, about culture always changing, and their position reducing essentially down to a form of xenophobia. That was a mistake, as I was inundated with a tirade of abuse from others. I was even invited by one respondent to kill myself, but I stuck to my guns. Outists don’t like the folly of what they are saying pointed out, nor do xenophobes like being called xenophobes; but to frame the argument in terms of trying to protect one’s culture from those you see as ‘other’ – people whom you claim hate you – reduces down to a form of xenophobia.

In the end, though, it got too much. I was getting replies every five minutes, and I didn’t have the time or patience to try to argue my corner. There was no reasoning with them. They saw me as a liberal – one even called me a libtard – something they seemed to despise. Indeed, in one of Molyneux’ other videos he rails against what he calls ‘liberal hypocrisy, the lack of any logic or understanding hidden by the quick edits and snide, arrogant remarks. Apparently, we discriminate against white male culture in favour of minorities. Such reasoning fails to take any account of the history of oppression minorities have faced, or the considerable advantages in terms of cultural capital the white male still has. It’s an attitude i’ve encountered time and time again: as soon as anyone calls them up on their bigotry and desire to oppress, or points out the folly in their talk of wanting to ‘preserve their culture’, they cry oppression. But they do so with such arrogance and condescension that it belies the bigotry beneath: it comes across as ”i’m a white male, so I know best.”

I deleted the thread last night. It got too much; I couldn’t be asked trying to argue with these right-wing fools. They employ an inane, intellectually void type of logic which prioritises white male culture over all others, then whenever anyone points out their bias, lack of evidence or illogic, the accuse you of bias. They also claim the education system and media is biassed against them; but instead of considering that that might be because people in education and media know the folly of authoritarian nationalism, they say it’s all a big liberal conspiracy to discriminate against conservatives in favour of minorities. They seem to refuse to accept that they might be wrong, and that others might know a bit more about the world than they do.

Thus people like Molyneux make their videos, railing agains some fantasy ‘liberal elite’, spreading what boils down to hatred, acting like they are saying something intellectually coherent and getting scores of hits for doing so. They offer no sensible evidence to back up what they say, but the moment someone like me calls them up on it, the pounce, deriding the comment and demanding evidence. And the moment you supply it, they dismiss it as biassed. There is thus no point arguing.

I believe this is part of what is known as ‘the info wars’. The liberal view is in the majority, because it is logical and pluralist. Thus when conservative

authoritarianism encounters it, it considers it oppressed because it sees itself surrounded and outmatched. Rather than accepting their selves as equal to everyone else, conservative white males take to the web and start shouting their heads off, decrying things like positive discrimination and political correctness as forms of discrimination against them. They desperately want to cling to the cultural advantages that they think should be their birthright, and use the tone and style of argument they find used against them to try to do so. Tonally their videos have an air of knowing to them, but the reasoning such people use would convince only the most naive. They insist the weight of evidence is theirs, but that insistence essentially comes from their belief in their ethnic superiority; they automatically reject any more objective viewpoint questioning their superiority as socialism. To attack liberal pluralism on the grounds that it discriminates against the dominant culture boils down to a justification of their own desire to discriminate. How can you argue with someone who sees himself as superior because of his ethnicity or socioeconomic class, and demands his oppressive, discriminatory views be seen as just as valid as anyone else’s, even when they lack any form of intellectual coherence and run counter to the pluralism everyone else holds dear.

I fear I might have been wrong last week. Watching top Gear last night felt like watching a cheap imitation, like someone trying to impersonate someone else but failing miserably. Evans et al just don’t have that spark, the [i]je nu se qua[/i], that clarkson and co had, and the more they try to recapture it, the more it feels like imitation. It just isn’t the same. I thought I’d give them a chance – after all, people may have said similar things when Gene Roddenberry created star trek TNG – but, after last night, I can’t see it getting any better no matter how many chances you give it. Top Gear was Jeremy Clarkson; the show without him just seems pointless, a cheap imitation, and I don’t think I’ll watch it any more.

I never really liked John Major when he was PM, but what he said this morning on the Andrew Marr show was spot on. As reported here, he launched a blistering attack on the outists. While he stayed within the confines of decorum, I thought Major looked genuinely angry at the way Vote Leave is currently conducting itself. ”He told Andrew Marr he was ‘angry about the way the British people are being misled’ by fellow Conservative Boris Johnson and Vote Leave.” He called their campaign ‘squalid’ and ‘deceitful’, sentiments I couldn’t agree more with. The way the outists are conducting themselves, the absolute bullshit they are flinging at the nation, tells us all we need to know about this bunch of conmen. At best, it reduces down to them trying to get rid of hard-earned human rights guaranteed by the EU; at worst it is abject xenophobia. I just hope we don’t fall for their hate-filled dissembling.

I really must flag this great piece by Sir Patrick Stewart in the Guardian up. In it, he explains why he thinks it’s so vital that we do not leave the EU. He recalls the devastation world war two left, saying that we cannot risk going back to the state of affairs before it. He writes, ”And when the European Union came into existence and the UK became a member, it was for me a triumph of all those convictions that the future must be one of worldwide cooperation and unity, and here we were paving the way with the beginnings of collaboration across Europe and learning the lessons of our own history.” That is a sentiment I totally, passionately agree with. Not only is Stewart one of my favourite actors (whom I have met, by the way), he is also spot on politically.

This poll card looks quite accurate to me [img description=”undefined image” align=”centre”]/images/poll card.jpg[/img]

Just a quick language-related note today. You may have noticed me using the words ‘outist’ and ‘outism’ to refer to those who want to leave the EU. I like playing with language and creating words like that. The campaign to leave often feels like an -ism, like fascism and nazism. The problem is, it occurs to me that ‘outism’, the word, is a bit too close to ‘autism’. I must emphasise that this is not deliberate: I am not making a joke, or saying that all Vote Leave campaigners are autistic. I know from my work at school that autism is a very serious condition, and that people on the autistic spectrum go through some real emotional turmoil and hardship. Nobody told me to write this entry; I just wanted to make clear that I’m not trying to be funny, or laugh at what is often a severe disability.

If I told you that I now believed that the human race was controlled by a species of three metre high reptiles, you would probably ask what evidence I had for it. If I then said only a few people could see these reptilian beings because they operated on a different frequency of light, you would probably dismiss me as mad. It thus both bemuses and intrigues me that David Icke can make the c;aims he does. Perhaps I should just leave him to it, as most academics seem to do – he’s harmless. But as one interested in ‘the big questions’, it puzzles me that so many people take him seriously. He offers no real evidence backing up his pronouncements. Yes, humans have a smidgen of reptile DNA, and yes, snakes and reptiles crop up quite frequently in both ancient and modern texts; but to go from there to claiming that we’re secretly ruled by reptiles is a huge jump. I try to be open to any and all ideas, but those ideas must hold up to academic scrutiny. What Icke says patently does not; but instead of quietening down, he insists it is the academic/scientific process that is wrong, and that we must go beyond what is physical and observable. He says we’re somehow ‘programmed’ from birth to dismiss the type of stuff he says as absurd. The question then is, how do we go beyond the physical? How do we know something is real if we can’t see or feel evidence for it? By taking such a position, though, Icke gives himself carte blanche to say whatever he wants and get others to believe him. As an academic I find that dangerous. He has set himself up as a guru, spouting all kind of nonsense from the stage, invoking stuff mainstream science rejected long ago, like psychics and ghosts; whenever anyone questions him, he just claims to be operating beyond normal physical barriers, bypassing any scrutiny and effectively saying that if you don’t believe him, you somehow aren’t awake to the ‘truth’. He’s obviously making good money doing what he does; what puzzles me is how many people fall for it. From an anthropological point of view, it’s interesting how he can captivate so many.

I keep coming across the argument from those who want to leave the EU that if everyone embraced multiculturalism, everyone would become the same. If every city became a multicultural city, they would all lose their distinctiveness as they would all have the same mixture of peoples. Everywhere would be bland and grey, and there would be no point in travelling as everywhere would be alike. Of course, nobody wants this to happen; I love travelling (who doesn’t?) and the point of travelling is to go and experience different cultures. Hence this argument gets to me.

Yet it seems to me that those who make it are disingenuous. No city could ever lose it’s distinctiveness: could London ever become like Paris, Rome, New York or Tokyo? Clearly not. Every city will remain distinct. Of course, if people from other cultures move in, the make up of a city will change. But that would only affect the suburbs: the core of a city will remain unique. Moreover, as a Londoner I relish the variety of languages I hear spoken on the street and the number of cuisines I can sample. It’s part of what makes the city great. I know, too, that this precise mixture is unique to London – you won’t get this mix of ‘native londoners’, polish and AfroCaribbean people anywhere else. Thus for outists to make such an argument is wholly false: they are pretending to care about something they do not, appealing to a liberals’ desire to protect cultural variety in order to get votes, when in fact the only culture they care about is their own. Yes, cultural diversity is to be relished, but you don’t need to force people to live apart to protect it. Immigration might influence a culture, but that has always been the case. Culture has always changed. At the same time, no matter who lives there cities like London will always retain their distinctiveness: there have been centuries of immigration to both London and paris, but they remain resolutely unalike. Thus the argument is a false one: outists do not make it because they value diversity, but because they want to reject those they see as foreign.

I just came across this bbc story, reporting that ”The trailer for Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory has thousands of people wondering if the film has set a precedent by featuring a lesbian couple.” Although, having just checked out the trailer in question, I’m not sure I can see what they are talking about, if it is true then surely this is great progress on the LGBT front. As with disabled people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people are severely under represented in the mainstream media, so for a company like disney, so often taken to be quite conservative, to include a lesbian couple in one of it’s films, is a major step forward. No doubt there will be people who vehemently oppose this, hating the fact that so-called ‘alternative lifestyles’ are being ‘normalised’, but, to me, such normalisation is long overdue. It’s high time we saw gay people in disney films, more transgender people on tv and disabled people at the cinema. Humanity is wonderfully diverse, and art should reflect that diversity.