Martin McGrath
Welcome to my website. I intend to use this space to hold forth on things like politics, books, technology, films and anything else that interests or irritates me.
You can also use this site to see examples of some of the work I've done as journalist, writer and designer. I'm available for freelance work and my rates are competitive and negotiable for good causes.
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Tag Archives: friday wisdom
FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: POLITICS AND THE EMOTIONS

In their introduction to Politics and the Emotions (Continuum, 2012) Simon Thompson and Paul Hoggett point out that models based on the unwavering rationality of the individual have dominated the social sciences for much of the last century. Like sociology … Continue reading
Posted in Blog reviews, Friday Words of Wisdom, Journalism
Tagged 2012, friday wisdom
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: WHY SOME THINGS SHOULD NOT BE FOR SALE BY DEBRA SATZ
Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sale by Debra Satz is a work of political philosophy that critiques the assumptions that underlie much modern economic theory and the implications of those assumptions in the application of markets to real … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged books, economics, friday wisdom, philosophy, Politics
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: ZOMBIE ECONOMICS BY JOHN QUIGGIN
Despite the garish cover and silly title, John Quiggin’s Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us (Princeton University Press, 2010) is a book with a serious and timely intent – to rescue our societies from the disastrous effects … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged books, economics, friday wisdom, Politics
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: ADAM ROBERTS “DOES GOD NEED A STARSHIP?”

This week I read Strange Divisions & Alien Territories: The Sub-genres of Science Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) edited by Keith Brookes. It’s a collection of essays that, the blurb on the back says: explores the sub-genres of science fiction from … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged Adam Roberts, books, friday wisdom, reviews, sf
3 Comments
FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: THE COST OF INEQUALITY BY STEWART LANSLEY

The Cost of Inequality: Three Decades of the Super-Rich and the Economy (Gibson Square, 2011) by Stewart Lansley is an interesting book that seeks to build on recent works, such as Wilkinson and Pickett’s The Spirit Level, by arguing that … Continue reading
FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: FIGUEIRA AND SPARTAN WOMEN
This week I have been reading Sparta: The Body Politic (The Classical Press of Wales, 2010, editors Anton Powell and Stephen Hodkinson), which contains a number of interesting essays on ancient Sparta but the one that really got me thinking … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged friday wisdom, Greece, history, philosophy, Politics, Sparta
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: ESTLUND’S DEMOCRATIC AUTHORITY
I’m a bit late to getting around to David Estlund’s Democratic Authority: A Philosophical Framework (Princeton, 2008) but it’s a major work of political philosophy. It is very much in the American tradition of political philosophy strongly influenced by John … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged books, friday wisdom, philosophy, Politics
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: GRAMSCI
This week I picked up Andrew Pearman’s The Politics of New Labour: A Gramscian Analysis. It’s a book with a title that seems designed to disappoint readers as it isn’t really an analysis of New Labour, Gramscian or otherwise. Much … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged books, friday wisdom, Politics
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: SAPPHO
This week I have been reading the Penguin Classics edition of Sappho’s poetry (Stung With Love: Poems and Fragments). It is a wonderful little book full of extraordinary language. One thing that made me stop was this bit from Aaron … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged books, friday wisdom, poetry, Writing
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FRIDAY’S WORDS OF WISDOM: DEPT OF SIC GLORIA TRANSIT MUNDI…
…and also the department of, in the politics of image control, the more things change, the more things stay the same. “A distinguished scholar of Macedonia and Alexander, the Cambridge historian GT Griffith, once observed with a certain amount of … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Friday Words of Wisdom
Tagged books, friday wisdom, history, Politics
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