postfaktische o post-verità

Whether the European political status quo can weather the trends that first emerged with the Brexit with the encore number, dénouement of the Trump ascendancy will see its first stress test this weekend with the run-off election in Austria and a contested referendum in Italy that could spark a constitutional crisis equally if it passes or fails. Even if the concept of polling hadn’t lost all its credence, the outcomes of both votes are highly uncertain.
What sort of precedent has already been struck and what would this shift bode more broadly? If elected, the conservative candidate of the Freedom Party Norbert Hofer will hold a plebiscite on continued EU membership, touted as Öxit. This protracted drama was too close to call in April of this year and a second vote was called for October—but delayed until now due to an issue with the glue on ballots mailed out. Meanwhile in Rome, Matteo Renzi’s government is pledging to dissolve itself if a sweeping reform bill engineered to reduce the gridlock that’s inchoate in the Italian parliament by divesting one chamber of its veto power. Even though that does smack as pretty much antidisestablishmentarian, populist elements oppose the change and its failure (and the resignation of the incumbent) are seen as an opportunity for social and economic conservatives to gain control.

ha ha ha! boom! boom!

In order to salvage TV Land’s threatened heritage, the British Film Institute has concocted an ambitious five year strategy, as the Verge informs, to conserve and digitise over a hundred thousand “at risk” programmes. Episodes from arcane but memorable children’s shows, documentaries, breakfast-time spots from the 1950s to the early 1980s are in danger of being lost to future generations as the antiquated storage media continues to degrade—shelf-life being a consideration no matter how good the environment is—and the loss of institutional knowledge and wherewithal as those familiar with the archives and format are retiring.
Among the titles set to be saved are, in the category of children’s programming, shows include Basil Brush (pictured) and Shang-a-Lang featuring the musical stylings of Bay City Rollers. There’s also At Last the 1948 Show from 1967 is a comedy starring John Cleese before joining the troupe that became Monty Python’s Flying Circus and a marriage quiz show from the same year called Mister and Missus, which might illicit some cringes and not everything retro is worthy of our nostalgia but from an ethnographic and historical standpoint it’s really an invaluable glimpse into our collective, formative pasts. Do you remember any of these shows mentioned here and at the links? I personally cannot claim myself as heir to this television legacy but my interest is a genuine one—and not an affection, like a semester abroad accent—and hope that the Telly will allow me to play along.

articulating the popular rage

The 1976 black comedy that billed itself as “perfectly outrageous” now seems presciently quaint by today standards, BBC reports in its appreciation of the motion picture Network.
Not only does the protracted mental breakdown of veteran news anchor Howard Beale provide unexpected ratings gold with his uncensored rants that channel the collected offenses and fears of the audience and the counterpoint of globalists in recognising that true power was taken from the tribes of man by corporate entities, producer Diana Christiansen who cultivated Beale’s new character also ventured into what we would regard as reality television.

haber process

Informed by Super Punch, The Atlantic presents a primer in a geopolitical snarl that’s potentially more significant for humanity’s surviving and thriving than the cartel of petroleum producing countries and all the economic booms, bubbles and bursting of the past: the virtual phosphate monopoly held by Morocco and its contested territory of Western Sahara.
Back in 1918, chemist Fritz Haber was awarded the Nobel Prize for inventing the process that fixed atmospheric nitrogen to phosphate to synthesize ammonia for fertilizers and other applications that allowed the world population to climb to the billions through improved agriculture—and while nitrogen is essentially unlimited, phosphate is finite and there’s no substitute. Currently, Morocco—which is very sensitive on the subject of Western Sahara, akin to a One China Policy or Kurdish independence but the controversy has been successfully muted and the plight of the aboriginal Sahwari people is largely unknown—cannot leverage the rest of the world with its reserves but that could change any moment, with wealth-redistribution and climate change, and suddenly food-security might mean that the Earth can no longer sustain us in the lifestyle we’ve grown accustomed to.