Monthly Archives: May 2022

We must do something

Posted on 28/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

An unusually prolonged exchange on a thread at Daily Sceptic, on the claims that we are in the midst of a mass extinction, put me in mind of the sudden decline in greenfinch numbers in the UK over the last few years.

Posted in Creation, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology of nature | Leave a comment

RUSSIA – and the logic of final causation

Posted on 27/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

Joe Bloggs is a useful YouTube channel for analysis of the terminal state of many nations’ economies following the West’s sanctions against Russia, though of course it also notes their individual problems of corruption, COVID or whatever. Replying to queries about why each title begins with an accusatory “RUSSIA,” he explains that if Russia had not invaded Ukraine, the destructive sanctions would not have ensued.

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology | 1 Comment

Moneypox

Posted on 23/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

The Next Thing, Ukraine now being sidelined because Russia is winning and many countries are refusing to play ball with the suicide sanctions, is of course the next pandemic, of a rare and generally mild disease called monkeypox. It does, however, have the psychological edge over COVID-19 of looking like a real plague, with yucky blisters and all.

Posted in Medicine, Politics and sociology, Science | Leave a comment

Art for rats’ sake

Posted on 20/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

Well, we’re back in Blighty after an unaccustomed week away in the glorious Isles of Scilly. I won’t give a travelogue on that. But being over our baggage weight even without a computer, world news was limited to overhearing the BBC bulletins on the house radio as my wife tuned in for the weather forecast.

Posted in Music, Politics and sociology | 1 Comment

Don’t follow the money – swamps are dangerous

Posted on 09/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

One has to take seriously those who have been suggesting, since the very beginning of COVID, that the real motivation for all that anti-scientific and anti-human nonsense was for the financial guys deliberately to crash the Western economy, with a view to (a) getting rich and powerful whilst everyone else becomes poor and (b) creating a new central, programmable, and universal digital currency and so becoming rich and powerful whilst everyone else becomes a serf. The excuse of the pandemic (blame God for that – keep the lab-leak quiet) would get them off the hook for having replicated, and exceeded, the same self-interested management that caused the crash in 2008, … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and sociology | 1 Comment

Understanding Putin

Posted on 07/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

An old university friend who also follows The Hump wrote to ask me about the sources I use most on the Ukraine conflict, and shared some of his own with me. Among them is Postil Magazine which carries some weighty and worthwhile articles. One which I highly recommend is this one by Etienne de Floirac, giving a deep insight into the political (and irreducibly religious) basis of Vladimir Putin’s vision for Russia. It confirms what I had suspected since the start of this war, that to see Russia’s role apart from its spiritual aspect is an almost universal error in the West. To what extent that neglect is deliberate, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology, Theology | 1 Comment

Nothing to see in Canada…

Posted on 03/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

Since the news is hot, I may as well comment on it, knowing in particular that I have some Canadian readers who are unlikely to get it on CBC.

Posted in History, Politics and sociology, Theology | 2 Comments

Powerful ju-ju 2022

Posted on 02/05/2022 by Jon Garvey

The confusion of paganism – especially if not regulated by a highly formulated priestly cult – lay partly in that one was never really sure why anything happened, and so predicting what would happen seemed a fruitless pursuit. Some god might start something going in nature or human experience, only to have it overturned by the caprice of a jilted goddess, or modified by a maledictive curse from some neighbour. The best explanations for the inexplicable became arbitrary stories from magical thinking.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | 2 Comments