Phil's Blog

Note: This is a revised and updated text of an article  originally published in Livingmaps Review  and posted online in 2021. It is due to appear  in a new collection of occasional piece Waypoints Volume 2 : Studies in the Grey Zone, to be published by eyeglass books in the Autumn of 2023. How do you map a monarchy? Depict the location of its palaces and other … [Read more...] about UNEASY LIES THE HEAD : ON LOSING THE ROYAL TOUCH  NOW AND THEN

This text is an introduction to  Waypoints Volume 2 ,  a new collection of occasional writings  from the last five years  to be published  in the Autumn by eyeglass books. INTRODUCTION : ON LIVING IN A GREY ZONE This  volume brings together pieces written over the past five years and thus spans the period  from immediately before the pandemic to its long … [Read more...] about ON LIVING IN A GREY ZONE

In memory of Mantas  Kvedaravicius,documentary film maker, killed in Mariupolis,, aged 43, by  Russian Federation  forces on April 4 2022. This text appears in Livingmaps Review 12. The  Long Room in   Putin’s Palace on the Russian Black Sea Coast. The room is furnished in the style of Louis XIV, with ornate gilt framed mirrors on the walls. At the far end there is a  bigger … [Read more...] about A SCENE FROM AN UNMADE FILM

  I recently had the experience, fortunately an unusual one, of being snubbed. Blanked Out. Given the cold shoulder. The bum’s rush.   Evocative enough phrases to describe the sensation of being ignored. I had offered to give a talk to an academic department where I had previously given seminars, in a college where I had been a visiting professor for a few years and … [Read more...] about IN PRAISE OF IGNORE-ANCE