Giovanni Battista Bugatti - what a name, eh? It sounds like the kind of bloke you’d expect to sell you a fine bottle of chianti or offer unsolicited advice about your olive oil. But no - our man Bugatti wasn’t swirling wine or chasing goats in the hills. He was the official executioner for the … Continue reading Mastro Titta: Pope’s Little Helper with a Big Sword
The Idiot Boy and the Machine: On Ned Ludd’s Kids in the Age of AI
For Context The Luddites weren’t technophobes. Let’s get that out the way. They weren’t afraid of machines in the abstract - they were afraid of being replaced, discarded, and starved by them. And frankly, I think that’s fair. The story begins in the early 1800s, in the smoky belly of England’s Industrial Revolution. Skilled textile … Continue reading The Idiot Boy and the Machine: On Ned Ludd’s Kids in the Age of AI
In Absentia: A Theology of Objects
I've touched on a similar theme in an earlier post, but as per my obsession with objects, I thought there's be no harm indulging again. There’s a sentence in Julian Barnes’ Metroland that hits with the sort of quiet, subcutaneous sting I’ve come to associate with him: Objects contain absent people. On the face of it, it's a throwaway … Continue reading In Absentia: A Theology of Objects
Rosana Begins: A Banana, a Rose, and a Prayer
Today it appears I’m an Accidental Druid and part-time Plant God. This morning, in a fit of what I can only describe as botanical lunacy, I took a rose cutting and rammed it into a banana. Not for storage. Not for snack garnish. But as a womb. A vessel. A pulpy, potassium-rich cradle for what … Continue reading Rosana Begins: A Banana, a Rose, and a Prayer
Grape vs Cherry: A Culinary Conundrum of Biblical Proportions
Just for fun.. Some decisions in life require gravitas. Signing treaties. Naming a child. Deciding whether or not to weep during The Snowman. And then - there’s the moment I find myself in far too often for someone who claims to be a rational adult - stood in my kitchen, dressing gown gaping, socks like … Continue reading Grape vs Cherry: A Culinary Conundrum of Biblical Proportions
Wording 