blog

TPP ‘worst trade deal ever’: Stiglitz

by

CBC News: Mar 31, 2016 8:45 PM ET, Last Updated: Apr 01 (Stiglitz on TPP) The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) may be the ‘worst trade deal ever,’ says Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. The TPP should be revised to advance interests of citizens, not corporations, he says. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz says the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) … Read more

The Guardian discovers Canada. High time!

by

A vision of what a progressive Britain could be. It’s called Canada

By Gaby Hinsliff

‘While the US boasts of offering its citizens life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it’s Canada that actually delivers on all three.’
[To put it another way, as the current Scientific American does, ‘Ironically, the American dream is more of a reality for other countries than it is for America.’RF]

From West Wing to Winsome

Imagine a West Wing episode come to life, and that’s basically Justin Trudeau. Canada’s winsome prime minister blew up the internet again this week via an old photo of him larking about for the cameras, balancing his entire weight on his wrists on the edge of a desk in trademark manly-but-sensitive fashion. One more for a photo album that so far includes Trudeau cuddling pandas, Trudeau proudly proclaiming himself a feminist, Trudeau wearing a Barbie-pink sweatshirt in

Read more

Second Norse Settlement in Newfoundland

by

By Ralph Blumenthal, The New York Times | April 1, 2016 On a remote point in Newfoundland, satellite technology detects evidence of a second Norse settlement in the Americas. A thousand years after the Vikings braved the icy seas from Greenland to the New World in search of timber and plunder, satellite technology has found intriguing evidence … Read more

Climate change solutions: towards ‘Emily’

by

  In November, 2017, the world held a conference in Paris hoping to dress the global, seemingly chronic, wound of  climate change. Perhaps our post-industrial society will slowly point itself in the right direction. So far it has done so shamefacedly, with apology to the purely human artifice of demand and supply economics. Thus, forests are said to be … Read more

Truth or Rumour

by

  In Dark Sovereign, Truth introduces herself to her audience. She finds it difficult. Truth’s audience has already met her identical twin sister, Rumour. People cannot tell the women apart. So, are they listening to Truth, or to Rumour? The audience must decide. Having identified herself, Truth explains how the queen, Elizabeth Woodville, has caused many … Read more

Lord Hastings calms a mob

by

Drawn from ‘Dark Sovereign’, ACT 3, SCENE 7 ‘Lord Hastings calms a mob‘: When news spread that the dukes, Richard Gloucester and Harry Buckingham, had seized young Prince Richard, the heir to the throne, Londoners began to choose sides and take up arms. Mobs formed, weapons came out and men drank heavily to build up their courage. … Read more

Old Lights on Newish History

by

  It’s extraordinary the way things happen: Think of a set of events that occurred in the dark days of ancient history.  Then loose your mind to wander. Likely you will find parallels, not slight similarities, but actual parallels. Hence — Old Lights on Newish History! It has happened to me a few times. The best example I … Read more

Musing on Damory Oak

by

In the tumultuous year of 1812, around the time the French were freezing in the ruins of Moscow and American troops were burning Fort York (Toronto), a London printer issued a quiet little book entitled Arbores Mirabiles, a collection of “curious Anecdotes” about “the most remarkable Trees, Plants, and Shrubs, in all Parts of the World.” … Read more

Rumour explains herself

by

The character of Rumour, in Dark Sovereign, explains herself Key questions for anyone writing about the life of Richard III are: Were ‘the little princes in the Tower’ of London foully done to death? If so, who killed them? On whose orders? Answers have eluded historians for four centuries. At this remove in time the truth may … Read more

‘Monster jellyfish invade Dorset coast …’

by

From: The Mirror, UK News, 24 May 2015. Headline: ‘Monster jellyfish invade Dorset coast and surround swimmer and his 10-year-old grandson’ ‘Record numbers of the giant jellyfish, which live off plankton, have swarmed on the UK’s south-west coast this year’ South West News Service (SWNS) Steve Trewhella took the amazing image when he and his ten-year-old … Read more

Reach out to me.

Questions? Comments?

Contact Me

© 2026 Robert Fripp

Privacy Policy Terms of Service