Following Peer Reviewed on Twitter is making me wonder if academic postmodernism is the modern-day secular equivalent of the Gnostic heresies of centuries past.
This Twitter account is the work of someone who possibly has too much time on their hands, who trawls academic journals in search of the most ridiculous-looking papers, and posts screengrabs of the abstracts.
This is a typical example.
It really does read like something out of Private Eye’s Pseud’s Corner. Indeed, one ot two people have implied that the combination of tortured logic and awful academic prose worthy of H. P. Lovecraft is actually triggering.
I have no idea of the compiler’s personal politics, but the selected nonsense skews very heavily leftwards, with a lot of references to Critical Race Theory and intersectional feminism. This might just be down to the author’s biases, but it might equally be that the prevalence of pseudo-intellectual codswallop skews heavily towards the left.
The American election has to be the most frightening one during my lifetime. The rise of Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left both demonstrate a populist revolt against a ruling elite that’s lost the support of large sections of the population. In the case of Trump it’s the closest a serious presidential candidate has come to full-blown Fascism. He certainly makes similar accusations against George W Bush look like risible hyperbole.
Former Touchstone frontwoman Kim “Elkie” Seviour kicks off her solo career with the single “Fantasise to Realise”. It’s a dramatic record that combines a big pulsing dance rhythm and rock guitars with a soaring vocal performance that suggests the best may be yet to come for Kim as a singer. It’s the sort of things that deserves to be a dancefloor hit if you can find enough clubs that aren’t frightened of guitars.
“The Nostalgia Factory” by John Mitchell is the first release by White Star Records. Aside from a couple of backing vocals by former Touchstone singer Kim Seviour. John Mitchell plays and sings everything on this record himself. The only thing he didn’t do this time is write the songs. Though he’s a songwriter so prolific other musicians can’t keep up with him, this four-song EP is a record of covers.
This week’s topic on The Song Bar is 
This iconic image by the late Dave Trampier from the first edition A&D Players Handbook epitomises Dungeons and Dragons for me.