Gwilym David Blunt

🚨𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲🚨 The Gates Foundation, Global Health, and Domination: A Republican Critique of Transnational Philanthropy Now available *𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝘼𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨* ahead of the forthcoming issue of International Affairs (@IAJournal_CH) ⬇️⏬⬇️⏬⬇️ doi.org/10.1093/ia/iia…

"When you're doing philosophy, don't be afraid to sound dumb. [...] Some of the the most successful philosophical interventions that I've witnessed have been a matter of pointing out that the emperor's not wearing any clothes." —G.A. Cohen, How to do Political Philosophy

GETTING READY TO MAKE HISTORY

I got this book this week. Its pages are already curling. This wasn’t a cheap dime store pulp novel. @mitpress needs to produce better books for what they charge.

Trump calls it “realism,” but Morgenthau warned realism isn’t amoral—it demands prudence and restraint. Power without ethics breeds hubris and collapse. Athens learned this in the Peloponnesian War. Will America? #Ethics #ForeignPolicy ethics.org.au/unrealistic-th…

Disco Elysium

Me: This article is explicitly not about X; lots of people right about X. I’m writing about Y. Reviewer 2: Cool, Y is really interesting and important, but you have you thought about writing about X… I write about X. Me:

Here's a piece of literature by me, suitable for seventeen-year-olds in Alberta schools, unlike -- we are told -- The Handmaid's Tale. (Sorry, kids; your Minister of Education thinks you are stupid babies.) John and Mary were both very, very good children. They never picked their noses or had bowel movements or zits. They grew up and married each other, and produced five perfect children without ever having sex. Although they claimed to be Christian, they paid no attention to what Jesus actually said about the poor and the Good Samaritan and forgiving your enemies and such; instead, they practised selfish rapacious capitalism, because they worshipped Ayn Rand. (Though they ignored the scene in The Fountainhead where “welcomed rape” is advocated, because who wants to dwell, and also that would have involved sex and would de facto be pornographic. Well, it kind of is, eh?) Oh, and they never died, because who wants to dwell on, you know, death and corpses and yuk? So they lived happily ever after. But while they were doing that The Handmaid’s Tale came true and Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job. The end.

This but unironic onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sj…

Having to produce two entirely new courses with only 1 month to prep is making me crave nicotine for the first time in 5 years.

That’s so funny because this is mine

After 3 years of education focussed part-time work and full-time parenting, I finally submitted a substantial new bit of research. I look forward to the desk rejection.

The girls are fighting

“I’m going to cut this 8500 word draft to 8000 words.” Two hours later: 9000 words

"Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic, if you can keep it." This exchange between Elizabeth Willing Powell and Benjamin Franklin underpins this analysis of democratic backsliding that I've written for @ethics_centre ethics.org.au/lessons-from-l…

Good old UK elections

I for one am looking forward to Pierre Poilievre and Liz Truss doing a joint presentation at CPAC on how to ruin your political reputation in 42 days or less!

Make the papacy Borgia again

But he can’t be rolled by a no confidence vote