Monthly Archives: October 2017

Das Kapital Anyone?

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In a Guardian comment piece entitled “The truth about Capitalism is out as Marx’s magic cap starts to slip”, Giles Fraser, an inner city priest in London launches a frontal attack on capitalism and, in essence argues that Karl Marx’s analysis of Capitalism is correct, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2017/oct/05/the-truth-about-capitalism-is-out-as-marxs-magic-cap-starts-to-slip.

The article contains many weaknesses:

1. Fraser fails to mention the many crimes committed by Communist states (E.G. Stalin’s Russia and Mao’s China). Of course it will be objected by some that true Communism/Marxism has never been tried and that the states styling themselves Marxist where nothing of the kind.

My response is, how many people need to die before Marxism is laid to rest along with Marx in Highgate cemetery?

2. Fraser details the problems associated with Capitalism but there is no such analysis of the profound difficulties flowing from attempts to implement Marx’s ideas.

3. Apart from a few extreme anarcho-capitalists, very few supporters of market economics advocate completely unrestrained capitalism. In the early 19th-century the Conservative social reformer, Lord Shaftsbury was instrumental in bringing in “The Climbing Boys Act” which banned the use of children as chimney sweeps.

Long before the first Socialist government was elected in the UK measures to curb the worst excesses of unrestrained Capitalism where on the statute books.

Again anti-discrimination legislation is not merely a preserve of the left.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was introduced by the Republican Party under Ronald Reagan while the UK’s Disability Discrimination Act (now the Equalities Act) was brought in by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher).

Both pieces of legislation place limits on what employers can do by prohibiting discrimination against disabled people (I.E. by placing restraints on Capitalism red in tooth and claw).

Fraser fails to acknowledge this.

4. For all its faults a mixed economy (containing a good dose of Capitalism) is more efficient than any alternative yet discovered.

Again Fraser fails to acknowledge this.

In conclusion, there are many faults with Capitalism. The mixed economy (containing a good dose of market economics) does, however ensure political and economic freedom and its excesses are capable of being reformed.

Ten Things You Might Not Know About Famous Poets

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InterestingLiterature's avatarInteresting Literature

In this special guest post, Ana Sampson offers some fascinating facts about classic poets

Matthew Arnold struggled a bit with the ageing process

At Oxford University, Arnold made a name for himself as something of a dandy. It was only when he fell in love, and needed to prove that he had prospects, that he finally settled into the position of Schools Inspector, rattling around provincial Victorian Britain on the newborn railway network. Most of his poetry was written during his younger years – he once said that after his thirtieth birthday he felt ‘three parts iced over’. His most famous poem, ‘Dover Beach’, was begun during his honeymoon in 1851, but was not published until sixteen years later.

There was a sad story behind Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s beard

Longfellow, best remembered now for The Song of Hiawatha, numbered among New England’s ‘Fireside Poets’, so called because their…

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Party Girl

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She was a party girl
Her head in a whirl
Of boys
And expensive toys.

She offered
“No strings fun”
In exchange for money proffered
By those who would
(if they only could)
outrun
The solemn tick tock
Of the ever present clock.

She was gone one day,
Who can say
Where?
Few care
To know.
The man of the world shrugs.
“Drugs.
Best not go
There.
She had naturally blonde hair
I think.
Will you take another drink?”

Balance

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The chimes
Are out of tune with the times.
Which way will the pendulum swing?
And what will the future bring?

The tick tock
Of a balanced clock
Is long since gone
But the mechanism grinds on.

The clock may be repaired
And it’s owners spared
The eratic pendulum’s swing
That no balance does bring.

A steady chime
To tell the time
And the singing of a blackbird
Must once more be heard.

National Poetry Day celebrates local poets

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To celebrate National Poetry Day, (which took place on 28 September), BBC local radio commissioned 12 poets from across England to write a poem incorporating a local word. To be frank some of these poems left me cold. I was, however rather taken with “Twittens”. To read the 12 poems please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4jjwQBspBn4NLRyB53d0dnJ/national-poetry-day-free-the-word.

An Artists Tribulation

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I agree with the author of this post, particularly with their statement that, “You must search for approval foremost from yourself. If you are never happy with your own work, you will never be satisfied with the words from others.
Approval comes from within. It always has”.

Kyle Hughes's avatarKyle Hughes

Perseverance, the word that is great in concept but difficult in action. 

In pursuit of your art, the necessity to not give up but in fact prevail is paramount. If one gives up, their work will not reach the audience that it deserves and thus, the spark will shudder and finally disappear. An artist must work continuously. Each day is another stepping stone to the day in which their work is recognised and appraised.

It is hard, however, to keep the necessary pressure upon yourself and your work each day. It is critical however that you do this. Yes, you are able to have rest days and time off, but it is your future you’re working towards and thus, it must be nurtured and respected.

An artist works long hours, tirelessly trying to improve their creations. You, an artist, must do similar. No individuals work is perfect and flawless. There…

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A Dalliance with Poetry

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Below are 2 poems which are taken from my collection of poetry and prose, “Dalliance”, which was published in 2014. The first poem is entitled “Fire” and the second “Midnight”.

—

“I have felt the fire’s power;
It kindles brightly and sinks within the hour.
I have watched the embers dying fast;
Looked into the future and gazed into the past.
I have raked the ashes cold, felt the bleakness in my soul”.

—

“Midnight, black as pitch.
No scheming demon, ghost, nor witch.
Only the darkness, which in the human heart resides, manifests itself in cruelty and pride”.

—

You can find “Dalliance” HERE