Pessimism need not be a block to action and change. It can be a spur to them. I taught environmentalism throughout my career as a university lecturer in sociology. I wrote a book about it published in 1994. There was plenty of cause for concern then. But also reasons for optimism. The debate on climate change was...

I joined my local library when I moved to Brighton (UK) in 1987. I didn't go that often. I would take my kids now and then when they were little and they would choose books. But I had a 50-hour-a-week job and the two small kids. The library was half an hour away and it wasn't easy to find 90 minutes to walk there,...

Why do I bother getting angry about software? When I started writing, it came from a place of ennui — absolute despair at the amount of waste I was seeing in the technology sector since leaving university. I was paid spectacularly well, but nothing I produced had any value. No one I knew in the corporate world was...

About 40 years ago, as an undergraduate student, I wrote some dissertations that were probably better than anything I wrote as a professional academic, admittedly a low bar. I wrote this one when I was 21. The film academic Colin MacCabe published an essay criticising realist novels and films for having a form that...

On communism in theory, attempts at communism in practice, and the implications for socialism. I wrote a book about Alternative Societies. It was about ways of organising society differently to how we do now (a blog summarising its themes is here). Someone said I should write another one on the same themes and...

It is 9:59 AM in Melbourne, 9th October, 2024. Sunlight filters through my windows, illuminating swirling motes of dust across my living room. There is a cup of tea in my hand. I take a sip and savor it. I text the other senior engineer, who unlike me is full-time, on the team: "I'm ready to start at 10", as is our...

In 2024 I retired from being a university lecturer. I wanted something to keep me writing, but not full-on academic writing. A blog seemed to fit the bill. Blogging and empowerment When blogging first emerged in the 1990s I thought it was amazing. Until that point if you wanted to get written words out in public you...

With the decision to focus on our consultancy full-time in 2025, my time as an employee draws to a close. My attitude has become that of an entomologist observing a strange insect which can miraculously diagnose issues, but only if the diagnosis is "you weren't Agile enough". My rage has quickly morphed into relief...

Continued from Alternative Email 2. This part looks at some other email providers that I did not discuss in the 'shortlist' in Alternative Email 2, alternative calendars, changing email, picking up email, other alternative internet possibilities, and finally a summary of alternative email providers discussed in part...

Continued from Alternative Email 1 which focused on criteria for alternative email. This part looks at alternative email providers. Alternative email providers In this part I am focusing on alternatives that, on my criteria from the last post, seemed the best to me when I was looking for a new email provider:...

This is the first of 3 posts on alternative email; alternative to big tech email like Gmail, Hotmail etc. Below is a list of contents followed by an introduction. Contents Alternative Email 1 Introduction Widening ethical criteria for alternative email beyond (but including) privacy Ethical criteria for assessing...

I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, but you have elected the way of pain!1 Every few weeks, I receive an email or have a conversation that makes me reflect on whether I'm living up to my own ideals. The emails talk about how refreshing it is to see someone saying what most people are thinking, and how it...