Rosa Luxemburg It’s possible that there will be a map of Berlin in the local branch of WH Smith. That’s what I really want. A large, fold-out, paper map of Berlin. Something that shows the edges of the city, and then the places beyond the edges of the city. The villages and forests and lakes.Continue reading “The revolution is magnificent; Everything else is nonsense”
Author Archives: DannyB
Boulevard Leon Gambetta
The ship was delayed due to a storm in the channel the previous day. A storm at sea, a storm in Putin’s head. Everything is in collision, roaring, squawking, screeching, screaming. A global domination by despots, dictators, false democracies, hysterical right wing newspapers, shock-mouth personas, foul intoxications of hate, lies and hypocrisies. Ordinary everyday workingContinue reading “Boulevard Leon Gambetta”
Pimlico, revisited
I walked through Pimlico several times earlier this year. Before more war had started. There was the brink of a new war then in those nervous days in January and early February. Threats and violations. No one was sure that it would happen. When it did, I remember thinking, ‘so this is how it starts’.Continue reading “Pimlico, revisited”
We Refused to Moor the Ferries
‘We refused to moor the ferries. They can’t make us’. The man telling me this was fishing on the beach. A big guy wrapped up for all sorts of weather. Sun, snow, wind, calm, lashing rain. He had the hood of his jacket pulled over his woollen hat just in case.‘They should have put aContinue reading “We Refused to Moor the Ferries”
Medieval Graffiti & the Conquest of Bread
One of the many books I’m working on (will they ever be completed?) has a working title of Commuting and the Art of Revolution. Chapter five has the working title of Medieval Graffiti and the Conquest of Bread. The structure of the book is the commuting journey I did for several years and the stationsContinue reading “Medieval Graffiti & the Conquest of Bread”
A Map of Dover, 20 March 2022
The Spirit of Britain in Dover Western Docks (next to Admiralty Pier). The sacked workers have all left. Essentially blackmailed by their employer, DP World. ‘If you don’t do as we say, you won’t even get your redundancy money’. There are people on the three ferries as at least two have been firing up theirContinue reading “A Map of Dover, 20 March 2022”
Tyger, Tyger
‘It’s not that they’ve made any losses, it’s just that they haven’t made big enough profits’. The Albanian taxi driver tells me. He is half in and half out of his car outside Dover Priory station. Another driver stands by the car in the sun. We’re talking about the news that P&O Ferries has justContinue reading “Tyger, Tyger”
Notes for a War Diary
The word ‘agate’ had to be looked up because I realised I only had a vague notion of what ‘agate’ might be. It seemed a small, trifling thing, referenced in Franz Hessel’s lovely book Walking in Berlin. As he describes, ‘In the evening of that overfilled day, I was welcomed into the home of anContinue reading “Notes for a War Diary”
War or No War?
It was that rather lovely period between the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the evening. This is particularly enjoyable when one has finished work for the day and the light in the sky is rapidly changing. There is a tension between the disappearing sunlight and the emerging neon light. The are complementaryContinue reading “War or No War?”
War Primer
A woman is sitting on a bench by the shore. She is wearing a black coat and a green scarf. She holds a phone in her hand and dials a number. She holds the phone to her head and then she moves again to dial a number. She does this over and over again butContinue reading “War Primer”
Commodity Fetishism 