Politics

The Hobbledehoy collects articles and podcasts from reliable sources of factual reporting, but with a clear, self-acknowledged left-leaning or progressive editorial bias.
Find the most recent articles from historians Timothy Snyder and Heather Cox Richardson, journalist Sarah Kendzior, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, former U.S. Senator Al Franken, and the global news program Democracy Now!

Meet Scotland’s 300-year-old snow patch, the Sphinx

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This weekend, Scotland’s most resilient snow patch, dubbed Sphinx, is expected to melt away. The news has been met with a surprising outpouring of emotion and nationwide coverage. Even The Financial Times covered the story with the headline “The end is nigh for Britain’s last snow”. The story has also gone international, featuring in radio reports as far away as New Zealand.So what is it about Sphinx that has captured the public’s imagination?  Some have suggested it could be symbolic. The Sphinx represents how we all feel, helpless and doomed to a fate determined by leaders like Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un [ . . . ]

More at source: Meet Scotland’s 300-year-old snow patch, the Sphinx

Donald Trump has ‘dangerous mental illness’, say psychiatry experts at Yale conference

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Donald Trump has a “dangerous mental illness” and is not fit to lead the US, a group of psychiatrists has warned during a conference at Yale University. Mental health experts claimed the President was “paranoid and delusional”, and said it was their “ethical responsibility” to warn the American public about the “dangers” Mr Trump’s psychological state poses to the country [ . . . ]

Source: Donald Trump has ‘dangerous mental illness’, say psychiatry experts at Yale conference | The Independent

Rodrigo Concierto de Aranjuez scene from Brassed Off

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One of Johnny Foreigner”s favorite British films of the ’90s was Mark Herman’s Brassed Off – 1996 British-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mark Herman and starring Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald and Ewan McGregor. These’s so much to love about the movie, including the brass band music, but especially the performance by one of the greatest British actors of all time – Pete Postlethwaite as the bandleader/miner “Danny.” If you’ve never seen this movie, grab it from Netflix or Amazon.

The film is about the troubles faced by a colliery brass band, following the closure of their pit. The soundtrack for the film was provided by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and the plot is based on Grimethorpe’s own struggles against pit closures. It is generally very positively received for its role in promoting brass bands and their music. Parts of the film make reference to the huge increase in suicides that resulted from the end of the coal industry in Britain, and the struggle to retain hope in the circumstances. [Wikipedia]