AN EVENING DISCUSSION ON ETHICAL ISSUES RAISED BY FOOD CHOICES – LONDON, 21 FEBRUARY. A discussion at the Institute Of Philosophy 6-8pm with myself, archaeologist Naomi Sykes and research chef Ben Reade. Room G22/26, Senate House, ground floor, WC1.
ReadI’m glad that some people have a narrow focus and so spot the important details generalists miss. But there should be more space for those who attempt to join the dots. We need both close-ups and landscapes, a wide and narrow focus, if we are to see all that needs to be seen.
ReadTIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT IRONY? A film of a discussion at the 2013 Battle of Ideas I took part in with Edward Docx, Tiffany Jenkins and John Waters, chaired by Jacob Reynolds.
ReadSTART THE WEEK – BBC RADIO FOUR. I was on this morning’s programme talking about my new book, The Virtues of the Table. Also talking with neuroscientist Dick Swaab abut neuroscience and free will, writer Helen Dunmore about here WW1 set novel and Natalie Abrahami about her production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days. Presented by Tom Sutcliffe.
ReadI sit here now humbled by both my personal failings and the inherent difficulties all humans have in taking charge of the one thing of which they are supposedly sovereign: their own bodies. My only consolation is that humility, so long as it does not descend into pointless self-loathing, is a virtue. No one becomes a lesser human being by becoming more aware of their limitations. While it would be wrong to become apathetic in the face of them, it is only by fully knowing the limits of our powers that we can make the most of the ones we have, and perhaps even learn how to increase them.
Read