• Follow the Money: How Much Does Britain Cost? by Paul Johnson
• Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
• Politics on the Edge: A Memoir from Within by Rory Stewart
• Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life by Arnold Schwarzenegger
• A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney
• The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas by Stephen Law
• How to Resist Amazon and Why by Danny Caine
• Free For All: Why The NHS Is Worth Saving by Gavin Francis
• The Known Unknowns: The Unsolved Mysteries of the Cosmos by Lawrence M. Krauss
• Nightwalking: Four Journeys Into Britain After Dark by John Lewis-Stempel
• A Death in the Family (My Struggle) by Karl Ove Knausgaard
• I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
• How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
• The God Desire by David Baddiel

Lots to love here. Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is obviously poignant given Perry’s death and Delaney’s A Heart That Works did, of course, reduce me to tears on multiple occasions. There is nothing earth-shattering in Schwarzenegger’s self-help effort but it is enjoyable enough. It is easy to see what Politics on the Edge has done so well and Stewart is very likeable and self-aware - though, even then, I was left with a perpetual discomfort as his privilege seeps out continually.

I had coffee with a friend recently and he mentioned Knausgaard. (I looked up how to pronounce it.°) I had vaguely heard of him - slightly embarrassingly when he is described by one source as “one of the 21st century’s greatest literary sensations”.¹ Ahem. I read the first book in his series of autobiographical novels. I’ll certainly be getting along to the next one soon.

• Code of Conduct: Why We Need to Fix Parliament and How To Do It
• The Race That Changed The World: The Inside Story of UTMB by Doug Mayer
• We Can’t Run Away From This by Damian Hall
• The Future of Geography by Tim Marshall
• Shattered Nation: Inequality and the Geography of A Failing State by Danny Dorling

• The Way of the Runner by Adharanand Finn
• Free and Equal by Daniel Chandler
• Debt by David Graeber
• The Internet Con by Cory Doctorow

• Regenesis by George Monbiot
• Storyworthy by Matt Dicks
• Hiroshima by John Hersey
• Against Intellectual Property by N. Stephan Kinsella
• What Gandhi Says by Norman G. Finkelstein
• Midlife by Kieran Setiya
• Show Me the Bodies by Peter Apps

• The Long View by Richard Fisher
• Iron Maiden Running Free by Garry Bushell and Ross Halfin
• ChatGPT for Creative Non-Fiction by Nova Leigh (+2 other books by same author on fiction/prompts)
• What Does This Button Do? by Bruce Dickinson
• The Spy Who Came in from the Bin by Christopher Shevlin
• Fluent in 3 Months by Benny Lewis
• Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner
• Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken

Please check out my Antidotum Substack where there is a new post: Vol 8 Opioid deaths and hospital admissions°

My biggest challenge with this one was keeping it down to 1500 words. It raises so many potential areas where we could be developing treatment services for people who use drugs. And, if you want to subscribe you can do so here:

• Politics: A Survivor’s Guide: How to Stay Engaged without Getting Enraged by Rafael Behr
• Lawfare by Geoffrey Robertson
• Abolish the Monarchy by Graham Smith
• Written by Bec Evans and Chris Smith
• Exploratory Writing by Alison Jones
• Writing Landscape by Linda Cracknell
• What We Fear Most by Dr Ben Cave
• A Philosophy of Loneliness by Lars Svendsen
• What Is ChatGPT Doing… and Why Does It Work? by Stephen Wolfram

I don’t normally write about books until I have finished them but I wanted to raise an interesting concept in The Long View: Why We Need to Transform How the World Sees Time by Richard Fisher.

I’m only about a quarter of the way through and he has raised the notion of the Buxton Index.¹ This is defined as the length of time (in years) over which the entity, be it a company, other institution, or individual makes their plans.

So a politician may be thinking over a 5-year electoral cycle but corporations who report quarterly may be very focused on short-term results. Some of the commentary on the Buxton Index is about recognising it as a potential source of tension between organisations — when the Buxton Index is significantly different it could result in disputes and disharmony. There is an argument, that Fisher is in the process of developing, that we are now far too short term in our thinking.

It has made me consider a little on how short-term/long-term the organisations I know and work with are in their thinking. It’s worth some reflection.

This book is relatively brief and that, in itself, is commendable. Too often books have to be stretched out to the standard length of 80-100,000 words regardless of whether the content merits it. Publishers demand books of a certain length and it’s a pleasure to read books, such as this one, concisely written and just as long as they need to be and no more. It makes the message all the more powerful.

Journalism is a broad church but most of us would wholeheartedly welcome the work that goes into the best kind of investigative journalism. It is deeply threatened by people with much to hide and plenty of money to pursue that desire. As Robertson notes:

The function of investigative journalism is to report, analyse and comment on such matters, and on the beneficiaries, without let or hindrance. By providing the powerful with weapons to obstruct such examinations, British law reduces the availability of news that is worthy of reporting, precisely because it opens people’s eyes to what is happening in their country or their community. For that reason, speech should be accounted the first of our freedoms and have in our laws a presumption in its favour.

It is difficult to come up with any reasonable justification for the UK’s law around libel but this book goes beyond that. It lays to waste the notion that the UK is a model state when it comes to free speech.

So, contrary to the boasts of politicians such as Mr Raab, the United Kingdom has a wretched history and tradition when it comes to free speech. That is because of laws and procedures that for the most part remain in force.

Robertson unpicks the web of legislation and its unintended consequences before suggesting the reform needed at many levels.

I need to write a few catch up notes on recent books. Behr’s book on politics is excellent reading and he interleaves his experience with a brutal MI with great skill. He is particularly good on nationalism and populism and identity.

The political scientist Benedict Anderson described nations as ‘imagined communities’, which is to say their existence — real enough in the minds of those who feel they belong in one — is a narrative construct. It is a myth that people tell themselves, assembled from bits of common economic interest, shared religion, ethnicity and remembered history. The myths stick and evolve into identities when they have sufficient resonance with a critical mass of people.

The book warrants a re-read for sure. He covers a lot of ground and with keen insight. I also liked the thoughts on running at the end as well. He captures it rather well:

There is a technique to distance running that I had not known before. You need to check for hazards at your feet, but mostly keep your head up and your shoulders back, unclench your fists. Look out, look up. That is how I keep things in perspective, especially when the anger rises and I need to think my way through it, to run through it, until I have reached the other side and found my way home.

It’s a fine description and, of course, reads beautifully as a metaphor for engaging with politics. On the more literal running level it is also good advice and, as I’ve said before, it is important to learn how to run. We all think we know how and I don’t want to over-complicate something as natural as running. Yet, it is possible to do it better and enjoy it more as a result.