Book review of Roger Scruton’s ‘Green Philosophy’: weaknesses in thinking seriously about the planet
This is my review of Roger Scruton’s book ‘Green Philosophy. How to Think Seriously About the Planet’. The review was published by the Manchester Salon website on 22 April 2013 and I will be one of the speakers at a debate at the Salon on 24 April 2013. See this link to the debate: Modernisation, … Continue reading
Celebrating the bicentenary of Robert Browning’s birth
The English poet and playwright Robert Browning was born in London in 1812 and died in 1889 in Venice. The bicentenary of his birth has been largely overlooked in his native Britain, but was celebrated with a festival in the town of Asolo, in the Venice region of Italy, on 8 September 2012. Asolo was … Continue reading
Venice’s ‘Baby MOSE’ dam completed
It is well-known that the biggest current infrastructure project in Italy is the ‘MOSE’ mobile dam system under construction to protect Venice from high flooding. Yet it is less well-known that a smaller dam has also been built to protect Chioggia, in the south of the Venetian lagoon. This dam, called ‘Baby MOSE’, was reported … Continue reading
Don’t panic about new sinking data for Venice!
As reported by CBS News on 21 March 2012, a new study has revealed a slight increase in the rates of subsidence for different parts of Venice between 2000 and 2010: City of Venice still sinking, study says The new study finds that between 2000 and 2010 the city of Venice was subsiding at the … Continue reading
Exhibition on the birth of the modern landscape
I would like to strongly recommend a current exhibition at the Palazzo Reale in Milan which I visited today with my family and runs until 2 May 2012. The exhibition concentrates on the work of Titian, although also features many of his contemporaries including Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese, Jacopo Bassano, Marco Basaiti, Cima da Conegliano, Giovanni … Continue reading
Paradise Lost and climate sustainability
In John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost, the angel Michael shows Adam a vision of the Great Flood that God will send to punish the wickedness of his creation: man. Will Venice, Rotterdam, Boston, south-west Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Burma be the victims of this prediction as global sea levels have risen over the last … Continue reading
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