Our job as artists is to keep our eyes open while everyone else’s are shut. [Werner Herzog]

Bit late with my news, but stunned to hear that Switzerland has banned minarets in a referendum – European court of human rights will of course have to reject if someone actually followed through with a legal challenge. What this sadly reveals is that what people do in the privacy of the polling booth is…

80th anniversary this year of evacuation of St Kilda. 40 miles west of North Uist, the most isolated part of the United Kingdom. Has the highest sea cliffs in Britain, inhabited for thousands of years. The people here hunted seabirds eg gugha (young gannets). Donald S Murray in Sunday Herald points out how the story…

From the Art of Manliness blog – Industrial capitalism brought with it the male archetype of the Self Made Man.  It posits that anyone from anywhere, with effort and a bit of luck, can make it good in the world.  It’s an attractive narrative, yet it undermines the daily grind of people just trying to…

Frantz Fanon – Marxist psychoanalyst from Martinique (which suffered under French colonization), whose PhD thesis was rejected so he had it published as a book, "Black Skin; White Masks" in the 50s. Described how the colonized black man has the options of turning white or disappearing. He is alienated from his traditional community, from his…

I'm such a sucker for these kinds of discussion. The usual answer is that it's whatever meaning you give it. Some people prefer to let others do their thinking for them. Others think they have a meaningful life when it involves harm to others. In general, it is the product of activity and choices, rather…

“You get to a point where happiness to you is like, you know, neither here nor there.” Raoul Moat, seeking psychiatric help before his murder spree and suicide. Moat’s followers are at least some of the following things: angry, bored, unfulfilled, violent, unemployed, injured, abused or abusive, misogynistic, skint, frustrated, in search of affordable psychiatric…

The Speedster from Kees ven der Westen, Coffeegeek.com think it's the best out there. Will set you back nearly 5000 Euro though…

http://solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/Littmann/stethoscope/electronic-auscultation/model-3000-series/ Difficult to believe it has taken so long to develop these. Also hard to believe the cost (£250)

We have a tiny dark brown frog in P's best vase, along with 3 tadpoles who are yet to develop more than 2 limp back legs. Had a mild panic that maybe the frog would drown (not trusting the amphi part of amphibian, clearly) but wikipedia to the rescue. Ton of extra fascinating information about…