E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

There is something of a Little Prince telling the sun to shut on or off about some businesspersons in the UK (and some politicians) demanding to 'open up' and let the travel and summer fun let rip. Such robust calls for less government control of 'our lives' seems based on the conviction, in some circles, that the government enjoys controlling people and limiting the opportunities for businesses to thrive, or that they have badly misread the scientific evidence. Whether this is wishful thinking, wilful blindness, or cynical agitprop, is unclear. When a nightclub owner or airline boss wants masses to get together again to generate revenue for a failing business, it is reasonable to understand their wish for cash influx, but less certain this person represents objective, disinterested 'common sense' let alone, the latest science. As many have noted you cannot 'follow the science' because science is multiple, but one thing 'science' is, which busine...

 It has been said more than once that the way a minority is treated indicates the quality of the majority - and in a world of multiple, and sometimes contrasting, individual and 'minority' identities, aided and sometimes undermined by, activism online, it might be soon the other way also - how minorities speak to majorities can be an issue. Of course, what is the 'majority' now, or the 'norm' with so many splintered interests, is uncertain, in an age of uncertainty. The Royal Academy has recently removed for sale works in their shop by an artist who, it was reported to them, holds potentially repugnant ideas and opinions. The reporting of these views is completely reasonable, and is it also reasonable to be saddened and concerned by such views, which threaten that community's sense of identity and meaning. What is less reasonable is the idea that the RA would then remove the artist from their shop - in common parlance, 'cancelling' them. What a commu...