Although I’m no fan of the original Olympics, with its thirst for blood and misogyny, they were essentially a celebration of extraordinary feats of athletic endeavour. The Olympics were also a religious festival where animals were slaughtered to honour Zeus, King of the Greek gods. The games came to an abrupt end with the advent of Christianity in Europe when in 393 AD, the Christian emperor Theodosius I forbade the celebration of pagan cults, which included the Games. When the games were revived in 1896, in the height of European colonialism, only 14 nations took part, all European with the exception of America.
Month: Jul 2024
The Road To Mecca by Muhammad Asad
Asad shares his adventures in a nonlinear narrative. The book starts in the desert of Arabia, with him and his companion Zayd, at the end of their mission, and heading back to Mecca. It is composed of 12 chapters and Asad’s writing is without exception stunning. From his descriptions of the landscape of the desert to Bedouin tribes and people to his explanations and understandings of politics and the human condition, he writes with beauty. There is an effortlessness in the flow of the narrative that makes the time the reader spends with this book similar to the description of time in the desert, you lose yourself entirely within it.
I’m Not Okay. You’re Not Okay. We Are Not Okay.
In Sir Kids Starvers own constituency he only managed to get 18,884 votes compared to 36,641 in 2019, highlighting how unpopular he is. Independent candidates, along with those from smaller parties did exceptionally well given they have nowhere near the level of funding Labour and Conservatives have and only had 6 weeks to organise and mobilise. So, although Labour managed to get only 34% of the overall votes nationally, that translated into 412 MPs which in turn is 63% of seats in Parliament. That’s not representative nor democratic. In 2019, when Labour suffered one of its biggest “defeats” under Jeremy Corbyn, the overall party received over 10 million votes. On July the 4th, when Labour won by an alleged landslide, its share of the national vote was down to 9,712,011!
This Hybrid Reads 