Some of you may remember the cult classic Billy Jack from 1971, and if so, the title character’s remark that, “When policemen break the law, there is no law!” That might be a bit too strong. Policemen are people. People break laws. Sometimes people break the law when they’re on the job. So that Derek Chauvin … Continue reading LET HOTTER HEADS PREVAIL

A law that’s impossible to obey isn’t a law. A law that’s impossible to disobey isn’t a law. A law that’s impossible to enforce isn’t a law. And a law that isn’t enforced isn’t a law. The most it can be is entreaty. And very often it’s not even that. What shall we say, then, of … Continue reading THE LEGACY OF GEORGE FLOYD

The number of American soldiers who’ve died in Iraq since George W. Bush declared victory from the deck of that aircraft carrier has been many times the number who died before that declaration of victory. So it’s not always clear that victory is something to celebrate. Likewise, I conjecture, those who’ll die from Covid 19 after we reopen … Continue reading PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER

Covid 19 has divided the human world into four distinct camps. There are those who’ve already lost - or are about to lose - their lives to this thing. That’s probably going to end up being about a half million people. There are those who’ve already suffered - or are about to suffer - a … Continue reading SCHADENFREUDE

Wherever you look, there are signs reminding us that “We’re all in this together!” If this is some kind of social cue I’m not picking up on, it’s probably because I don’t know what the ‘this’ refers to. For example, during the Second World War, citizens of the Allied countries and those of the Axis … Continue reading WE’RE NOT ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

If I were born blind, I’d have no idea what colour I am. Or even that people come in different colours. I’d only know about it if someone told me about it. As it happens I wasn’t born blind. But even then I’m not sure I’d automatically put people in colour categories. This is because there’s as … Continue reading A DEFENCE OF BIGOTRY

English has one distinct advantage over Italian. The distinction between an assertive and interrogative is embedded in the construction of the sentence. In writing Italians have to rely on the question mark, and in speaking they have to rely on inflection. Nevertheless the rhetorical is available in both languages. Whether I ask it as, “Is the … Continue reading THE SCRUM

A servant serves a master. A public servant serves the public. Dr. Deborah Birx was quintessentially that. Note the ‘was’, because yesterday, May 7, she pivoted. You can tell she pivoted from public servant to servant of Donald Trump when, in response to a question from CNN’s Anderson Cooper about whether she agreed with what … Continue reading THE PIVOT

It would be oxymoronic of me to complain about something having gone unreported, since if it went unreported I wouldn’t know it. The same applies to something that is reported but is then ignored, since if I’m complaining about it being ignored it’s not, being ignored that is. Nor can I complain about something that’s being … Continue reading STACEY ABRAMS AND THE I-BELIEVE-YOU CAMPAIGN

On the assumption things don’t get so bad that we descend into anarchy, those of us with protected incomes have a much better chance than those who don’t of coming out of this thing financially intact, but also physically intact. Covid 19 doesn’t actually target the poor, but the more privileged among us have a … Continue reading COVID 19 AND PRIVILEGE