Consumption

Buying Baklava

The woman in the shop turned to me while I was looking at the counter where the cakes are on display in a glass case. She was organising things on the shelves, I didn’t notice what. ‘Do you want something darling’, she asked demurely. She turned her head and looked at me with her blackContinue reading “Buying Baklava”

Sunday Morning, E15

The vote count for the 1892 General Election for the West Ham South constituency was held here (now the Old Town Hall, Stratford). When it was announced that Keir Hardie was the winner he went on to the balcony and addressed a crowd of between 15 – 20,000 people. “On taking his seat on 3Continue reading “Sunday Morning, E15”

Adventures in capitalism, April 22

Or, more signals from the Society of the Spectacle. I’ve been reading ‘Revolutionary Dreams: Utopian Vision and Experimental Life in the Russian Revolution’ by Richard Stites. This lead me once again to Boris Kagarlitsky’s The Thinking Reed. I thought I’d lost the book. There are fond memories of the time and place in which itContinue reading “Adventures in capitalism, April 22”

Ship, moon, navigation buoy, limpets

The liquid natural gas carrier, Gaslog Wales sailing from Dunkerque to Freeport, USA. Freeport is part of the infrastructure of shale gas production. I liked the presence in time and space of the moon, the sea, and limpets stuck to a concrete breakwater. But the endless pursuit of growth and profit and the immense wasteContinue reading “Ship, moon, navigation buoy, limpets”

MSC Sao Paulo on its way from Bremenhaven to Le Havre. An earlier voyage this year included Liverpool, Montreal and Antwerp. It has a carrying capacity of 4688 TEU. It sails under the flag of Liberia and its home port is Monravia. Over 50 percent of the population of Liberia live below the poverty line.Continue reading “Consumption”