 | How wide is the gap between the people who make all the noise in society, and the people who don't appear on our screens at all? Wondered about this after the General Election. All the noise was about coalitions, etc.; the result was a clear victory/defeat. Today, there's so much noise, and it's all focused on junior doctors, schools as academies, the EU referendum. To express the question in electoral terms, will the eventual vote reflect the apparent consensus among the noise-makers, or will it (again) reveal the existence of a significant "silent majority" that has made up its mind on grounds distinct and different from the assumptions of the "chattering classes"? Given the market penetration of social media, the relentless dissemination of news and comment, there shouldn't (sic) be a silent majority in the old-time sense of that term. We are all members of what used to be calle the chattering classes - or we could be, if we wanted to take up the opportunity represented by online access. Maybe most of us just aren't listening. Maybe we are. These are, perhaps unfortunately, interesting times. |
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This site is updated weekly, usually on a Friday although I might change that (again). I write it because (1) I like writing it and (2) I like having a deadline. More often than not, it works out as a commentary on the week just passed*.
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Welcome. Thank you for coming. But am I the right William Essex? Click here to meet some more. Read My Shorts?
Here is yet another page of old blog posts and other writings. Sorry, but I need my metaphorical sock drawer for metaphorical socks. The link to the page is right at the end of the paragraph here.
Roads without end
Here is a passage from a review of the book The Road to Somewhere by David Goodhart. I haven't read the book (yet), but the collected reviews would make a worthwhile set of political arguments in their own right. More.
Also available in English. 'Can I Quote You on That?'
State of the Union
Several commentators today saying that they've lost confidence in the US. Making their point by talking up the glories of the past. After two weeks of this administration, they're not going back.
Were they wrong, and they've seen the light? Or has the US changed? I guess the latter is the intended meaning. But we should at least acknowledge the possibility... More. Categories
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