A Note

Some media articles and a London-based event

This is a note of interest to new subscribers, old subscribers and London-based subscribers. In fact, it's a note to everyone but about different things.

Firstly, welcome to new subscribers and thanks for signing up. Generally, I send out a piece a month and it's usually a long read. I find long essays to be the most natural form for 'my' subjects – topics that need development and tend to involve getting under the surface of things.

In between times, I send out shorter pieces which are often lighter in tone and reflect my longstanding interests in nature and place.

Now I have some short reads for those interested in my more current affairs-oriented writing.

When I started this Substack my full-time career in journalism was long gone - after the credit crunch, and with the industry in structural decline, it was no longer possible to make a living as a freelancer.

In 2020, I began to have things to say regardless of payment but, in a media which would only publish material that conformed to a certain narrative, no place to say them. This was the time many writers set up Substacks.

So I'm pleased to say that the situation has been evolving and there are now a limited number of outlets where writers whose work is questioning or proposes an alternative point of view can find a platform. Partly this is because of the rise of a new generation of independent publications founded by people alive to the dangers of a captured mainstream media. And partly it's because 'the narrative' itself is shifting and some well-established publications are now prepared to publish more challenging articles.

For me, this is a nice illustration of the founding premise of this Substack – there are always different ways of seeing.

Below is a selection of short reads relating to subjects published here:

A feature in The Critic magazine on Oxford's plans to become a city of zones and permits amid the wider controversy about '15-minute cities'.

A piece in the Catholic Herald about the opportunity to find meaning and change in the ongoing crises affecting the world.

A piece in Mercator on Albanian history, Scottish censorship and the impossibility of suppressing the religious impulse

A piece in The Spectator about Thames Water and what our failing infrastructure illustrates about our politicians and economic system.

And finally, I'm hosting an event in London next month and would love to see any London-based subscribers there.

It's called The Spiritual Salon and aims to provide a forum to discuss the deeper significance of the times in a positive light – something I hear talked about on many American podcasts but almost nowhere in Britain.

It will be small and experimental, and you can find more details here.

All the best,

Alex