Consumption

The Study of Consumption

There is no moral framework for production within capitalism. Nation states give priority to the production of nuclear missiles, chemical weapons, cluster bombs, police truncheons, tear gas, water cannon; feeding people and providing shelter, health services and education are secondary, or less. Even outside the arms industries there is plenty of immoral production; oil, builtContinue reading “The Study of Consumption”

Art Deco & Electro-Gothic

Before one can start any sort of study there must be a great obstacle course of diversions to navigate through. And so the real study of the Gothic met a temporary set back today by hitting the submerged rocks of Art Deco. My little ship contains a notebook, a pen, some pencils, a sketch bookContinue reading “Art Deco & Electro-Gothic”

Stepping Out

It is a peculiar sensation to feel as if stepping back into one’s own life. The recent past appears to have been the experience of another person, someone else, not me. There was a sense of a second phase. But a second phase of what exactly, unclear. It’s not as if I’ve been idle. AContinue reading “Stepping Out”

Money, or the Distribution of Commodities (and the circulation of people)

It is unlikely that Westfield Shopping Centre was constructed as a living laboratory in which to study commodity fetishism. But as a laboratory for such a study it is a surprisingly good one. Here can be found the products of global production and also working-labour and consuming-labour from around the world. Where does this magneticContinue reading “Money, or the Distribution of Commodities (and the circulation of people)”

An unexpected turn with rainstorm and rainbow

There was a tug on my left arm. I didn’t see who did it as they had quickly disappeared into the mass of people on the concourse of Liverpool Street Station. But I couldn’t go that way. Not enough time. It was there, an idea and it was fading as I stood on the escalatorContinue reading “An unexpected turn with rainstorm and rainbow”

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”