He thought he could resolve a party conflict in a national way. It did not resolve that conflict and proved a disaster for the nation he played politics with.

He reckoned on winning. Perhaps he could have if the image in Scotland (below) had been replicated nationally. He did not reckon on Corbyn.

Shame on the BBC. Who is the more dangerous? An overpaid racist who should be as invisible as his sense of decency - or the publicly funded news organisation that has utterly lost its sense of public service? #BBC get a grip or you will take our democracy down.

It’s Marx day for me. Starting here. But what essential element is missing from this picture? Wrong answers welcome - but the right answer wins a copy of my book, “Europe:A Philosophical History” vol 1, in which I set it all out.

Edwyn Collins leaves the London stage for the last time. What a night at a sold out Royal Festival Hall.

Reading Kroeber’s great book on world history. It’s intently empirical but draws heavily on Spengler’s philosophy. Given that influence, it is perhaps odd that he supposes modern European philosophy to have definitively ended by 1900, with Nietzsche the last. webfiles.ucpress.edu/coverimage/i...

The idea that new exemptions for the UK could have helped in the EU referendum is indeed wishful thinking. In fact there was one - in relation to a proposal on sovereignty drawn up by Tusk and Cameron that was rejected by the EUParl. But: the proposal that was rejected could have made a difference.

An interesting turn in the timeline.

It’s not only the players who are getting younger in the IPL this year. The crowd too. Spooky.

The number identifying as British only in this new poll is historically low.

(People who think these fellow citizens don’t know where they live need to stop being so patronising btw.)

Ignore the circled stats on this picture - it was prepared for a different point, which is also very telling.

This festive season, Nietzsche and I wish each of you as much independence as possible in your opinion, way of life and occupation.

From 1931. No cheating - who is the writer?

Across Heidegger’s Ponderings texts is a running battle of sorts with Oswald Spengler - most of it pretty unconvincing and petty. At the end, on the penultimate page, he seems to settle accounts - more or less. (Apologies for screen photo.)

Anjali and I were both blown away by the amazing set put on by these musicians of note at the Brixton Academy last night. This is how it started - then the curtain fell and the place was a two-hour treat of magnificent light and sound.

I have just started this new book by Yuk Hui, which promises to be a wonderfully thoughtful meditation on the future of a distinctively European self-understanding - “beyond trivial criticisms of Eurocentrism”.

Well, good morning to you too.