Being, as you will have already judged, somewhat to the political Right of Ghenghis Khan you will wonder if it is an attack of advanced and galloping infantilism that has made me book-mark The New Statesmen site. As you all know, the average age of the readers of the 'Staggers' is 171/2 and that of its writers around 231/4. This is not surprising because belief in the religion of socialism is usually confined to the very young or the incurably stupid elderly. Happily, most of us grow out of it.
And yet . . . and yet . . . that wonderful site, Arts & Letters Daily, pointed me towards an essay by Simon Heffer, a man who on the whole makes me look like a bit of a 'pinko', on the subject of the historiography of the First World War which has been published by the 'Staggers'. Hard to believe Heffer is in such Leftie company, I know, but it's a terrific read. The only slightly embarrassing thing - well, I don't embarrass easily! - is that his summary of the very many histories written on this complex subject made me uneasily aware of my ignorance despite the bravado with which I proffer opinions on this blog. Still, none of you regulars ever pay any attention to my opinions anyway so it doesn't really matter.
And talking of ignorance, nowhere outside of knitting and mending broken domestic devices (ask the 'Memsahib'!), am I more ignorant than on the subject of quantum physics, and this despite the fact that I was hooked on the subject back in the mid-eighties and since then I have read numerous books on the subject. Dammit, I even attended a lecture on the subject at Oxford given by some super-swot who looked about 14-years old!
Even so, certain curiosities stuck like, for example, the fact that you can 'capture' a couple of photon 'twins', that is, tiny particles of light energy which are 'twinned' in the sense that they share particular physical characteristics such as 'spin' (not 'spin' as you and I understand it but similar-ish). You can separate these 'twins' by sending one hurtling off into space, obviously as it is a light particle, at the speed of light which is absolutely and definitely as fast as you can go in this universe of ours. So far, so what, but the fascinating thing is that if you alter the spin on the particle here on earth it will alter the spin on its 'twin' that is already several zillion light years away!
This cosmic connection can’t involve any signals passing between them: it would have to be quicker than light. The only explanation is that photons inhabit a reality beyond the space and time in which we live out our existence.
So writes Michael Brooks, a science writer who contributes to the 'Staggers' and his brief but fascinating essay is also worth a read.
So, my recommendation to you all is to book-mark the 'Staggers' but avoid reading their political stuff, especially if you are in the middle of drinking tea or coffee - it could ruin your keyboard!
