Blogs

In recent days the world has been amazed at Donald Trumps European vacation. The handshake bullying, the pushing and shoving, and the lack of understanding of basic facts. We like to think that we are better than that and sometimes try and get our own back making sniping remarks behind our hands. Yes, Prime Minister of Belgium, perhaps you'd like to share it with the rest of the class?

Narcissism has become a serious problem. Donald Trump isn't a problem because of what he does so much as what he is, which is a sociopathic narcissist. He has no moral compass, he lies as a first resort and he will force his opponents to fight battles again and again.

Millions around the world are protesting against Trump's latest dictats, but is protest an effective way to deal with The Donald - or are we faling into his trap? This is an excellent piece in the Washington Post which is heading in the direction of coming up with a strategy which will be effective against narcissism. Venezuala has been through this already and there are lessons to be learned. We need to pool our knowledge globally to find the best way forwards.

It looks like a complete disaster - someone with narcissistic personality disorder in the white house - but can we use a high profile narcissist such as Donald j Trump to demonstrate to the whole world how the mechanisms of narcissistic manipulation work, and more importantly how to deal with them.

Today's news that one in four young women in the UK is suffering from anxiety or depression should be a wake up call to us all. Figures were bad for all demographics, but particularly the young. Possible causes include social media, by which reporters mean,'the internet'. So, is the internet making is miserable and if so, what can we do about it?

During the Brexit campaign I was struck by Nigel Farage saying that losing a bit of GDP would be worth it if we were all a little happier. Aha, I thought, at last, a politician talking about happiness, maybe that's what this whole thing is about. Maybe this could be a new direction for UKIP now they have won their major argument. They could re-model themselves as a peoples happiness party.

Action for Happiness have just launched an evening course onhappiness, which sounds like a good idea and is endorsed by the Dalai Lama, but who is it going to help? People already interested in positive psychology might be interested but most of the people who could benefit will dismiss it as a concept without too much thought.

Market forces won't make us happy. They might do a lot of things, but planning for the common good isn't one of them.  If a company can make money doing something it is going to do it, even if it kills or injures millions of people. Even if the risk of a backlash is so great that it would destroy the company.

Take obesity, market forces push food comapnies to offer larger sizes and cut costs. This means bigger portions of less healthy food - and ultimately obesity. Here is "The Register" on this...

There has been a clip on tv recently showing Jeremy Corbyn saying that socialism is the answer. He is nearly right.

The problem with socialism is that it sets up a struggle between the rich and the poor. We end up having a fight about who gets a place by the trough - for more info on this read George Orwells "Animal Farm".

Lord Sewel (no less) has resigned as deupty speaker of the house of lords over allegations of taking cocaine with 'sex workers', he is not the first and he probably won't be the last. Snorting coke off a prostitute seems to be the absolute pinnacle our culture has to offer in pleasure. Which says something pretty sad about our culture. Members of the House of Lords, you would imagine, would be dining at Michelin starred restaurants before watching opera or ballet, but no, down to Madam Fifi's for a snout full of whizz and a bit of 'slap and tickle'. Does anybody still call it that?