Simon Bowden
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justbeauty333.bsky.social
Simon Bowden
@justbeauty333.bsky.social
Author and co-founder of the justbeautyportal, linking the arts, politics, moral self-awareness and a book store.
Goethe’s Faust is an emblem of modern man. With his sidekick Mephistopheles he can have anything he wants in the world. He creates a new human life, he prints money, he beds a phantom Helen of Troy. But can he save his soul?
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-aware/f...
Goethe's Faust, a Parable of Modern Techno Man - Just Beauty Portal
This may be the most eccentric review of Goethe’s Faust ever written, as I have only read the two parts of the play over Christmas in English translations.
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January 30, 2026 at 4:22 PM
Are the Techno Barons are Stealing the World’s Wealth? See discussion on the Just Beauty blogsite at www.justbeautyportal.com/just-practic...
Technofeudalism describes a system where powerful tech companies act like feudal lords, controlling essential online platforms. Profits end in tax havens.
Just Practical - Just Beauty Portal
These are the records of the Practical Progressives discussion group, which was set up in 2023 – when some of the Dorset Humanists felt the main group was
www.justbeautyportal.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Simon Bowden
JUST BEAUTY PORTAL; a review of 'Veronica'

Women trapped by the need to be beautiful. Read our review of the award-winning novel Veronica, where the heroine is sucked into the dark side of fashion, modelling and the highs and lows of drug addiction.

www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/wom...
Women Trapped in the Web of Beauty - Just Beauty Portal
Mary Gaitskill’s novel, Veronica, is a meditation on truth and beauty told by its self-proclaimed peripheral protagonist, Alison. The novel loosely tracks her
www.justbeautyportal.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:38 AM
Women trapped by the tyranny of beauty. Read review of the award-winning novel Veronica, where the heroine is sucked into the dark side of fashion, modelling and the highs and lows of drug addiction.
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/wom...
Women Trapped in the Web of Beauty - Just Beauty Portal
Mary Gaitskill’s novel, Veronica, is a meditation on truth and beauty told by its self-proclaimed peripheral protagonist, Alison. The novel loosely tracks her
www.justbeautyportal.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Victims of the secret police in Iran. What happens when a suspected torturer is captured by dissidents? Will they kill him and have they got the right man?
See review of this brilliant film on the Just Beauty portal at www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/sec...
Secret Police and their Blindfolded Victims - Just Beauty Portal
There is then an extraordinary sequence where a mechanic, Vahid, observes the man with fear and disgust, pursues him secretly and kidnaps him. A little later
www.justbeautyportal.com
January 6, 2026 at 12:39 PM
How Britain lit the fuse that led to the Arab Israeli conflict
The film that brings alive the last days of the British Empire as it tried to keep order between Arabs and Jews in the Palestine Mandate. And the role of Christian Zionist Orde Wingate.
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/bri...
How We Sowed the Seeds of the Middle East Conflict - Just Beauty Portal
Balfour had promised the Jews the right to “a national homeland.” At the same time there was a vague caveat that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice
www.justbeautyportal.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:59 AM
A world without white people...
Catch this five star exhibition at the Royal Academy until January 18. It documents the lives and dreams of the “invisible” black population of the USA. Giant paintings, beautiful colours. Reviewed on the Just Beauty site:
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/the...
The Artist of Black Beauty and Reality - Just Beauty Portal
Because the bodies are all black skinned, we see less detail and facial expression than we are used to in western art. We have to think harder about what is
www.justbeautyportal.com
December 16, 2025 at 11:41 AM
DEFENDING THE BBC FROM FOREIGN INTERFERENCE
The BBC is under attack from Donald Trump and his right wing allies in the British media. Why we should never let this icon of British culture be undermined:
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-politic...
Well done Open Britain!
Defending the BBC through Dangerous Times - Just Beauty Portal
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#search/bbc+trump/FMfcgzQcqtkLKVPQTvwtcZPZTTdmFZMR
www.justbeautyportal.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:52 PM
A world without white people...
Catch this five star exhibition at the Royal Academy until January 18. It documents the lives and dreams of the “invisible” black population of the USA.
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/the...
The Artist of Black Beauty and Reality - Just Beauty Portal
Because the bodies are all black skinned, we see less detail and facial expression than we are used to in western art. We have to think harder about what is
www.justbeautyportal.com
December 2, 2025 at 12:15 PM
After the budget - should Labour go further to reduce inequality? See post on the justbeautyportal site: www.justbeautyportal.com/just-politic...
Inequality Makes Us All Poorer - Just Beauty Portal
These questions are answered by the distinguished American economist Joseph Stiglitz in ‘The Price of Inequality’ (2012). (The short answers are Yes, and Yes
www.justbeautyportal.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Can the US adapt to a less dominant position in global affairs? Could a new world order emerge that’s based around a balance of power of regional alliances? Will the next secretary general of the UN be a woman?
See our Just Politics page

www.justbeautyportal.com/just-politic...
Just Beauty Portal | Beauty. Truth. Justice.
Just Beauty searches for where the truth of brave, excellent art meets the truth of practical projects to improve our society and to protect nature.
www.justbeautyportal.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
SEVEN DEADLY SINS IN OUR TIME
Check out the review of Fully Alive by Elizabeth Oldfield on the Just Beauty site. This excellent book explores the Seven Deadly Sins in terms that will make sense to any human being, religious or secular.
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-aware/s...
Seven Deadly Sins That Won't Go Away - Just Beauty Portal
Anger is a natural, human emotion – and often may be justified. The author distinguishes it from Wrath – where we take a curious pleasure in unleashing our
www.justbeautyportal.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Grayson Perry’s amazing exhibition Delusions of Grandeur will soon be over at the Wallace Collection in London. But what does it tell us about the links between sex, power and violence in Rococo art?
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-art/
Visit the JustBeauty site to join the discussion.
Just Art - Just Beauty Portal
Just Art Emotional truth in works of art. 03 Oct '25 Sinister Beauty in Rococo Art Simon Bowden Grayson Perry So what does it all mean – Grayson Perry’s
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October 15, 2025 at 9:11 PM
JUSTBEAUTY BLOGSITE
We aim to share ideas and promote public debate on our free, non-profit and curated site. We will provide facts you can trust, and opinions based on our human emotional responses rather than any ideology.
www.justbeautyportal.com
Just Beauty | Beauty. Truth. Justice.
Just Beauty searches for where the truth of brave, excellent art meets the truth of practical projects to improve our society and to protect nature.
www.justbeautyportal.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:43 AM
SIX IDEAS TO IMPROVE THE NHS
This article on the Justbeautyportal reports on a seminar led by a retired hospital consultant, voicing some frustrations! Please visit our site and subscribe to the free newsletter shown at the bottom of each page.
www.justbeautyportal.com/just-practic...
Is the NHS Fit for Purpose? A seminar led by a retired NHS consultant - Just Beauty
1:  A proposal that the NHS and Social Care should be funded and organised as a single system. This could reduce the blocking of around a third of hospital
www.justbeautyportal.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:41 AM