Architects for Social Housing (ASH)

‘The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the “state of emergency” in which we live is not the exception but the rule. We must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. Then we shall clearly realise that it is our task to bring about a real state of … Continue reading The New Normal: What is the UK Biosecurity State? (Part 1. Programmes and Regulations)

‘The only truly political action is that which severs the nexus between violence and law.’ — Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception Table of Contents Government Guidance and the Law Benefits and Dangers of Wearing Masks Asymptomatic Transmission of Coronavirus Surveillance and Compliance Civil Disobedience Appendix: Medical Advice against Wearing Masks Addendum 1: New Regulations on … Continue reading The Science and Law of Refusing to Wear Masks: Texts and Arguments in Support of Civil Disobedience

‘At issue is an entire conception of the destinies of human society from a perspective that, in many ways, seems to have adopted the apocalyptic idea of the end of the world from religions whose suns are now setting. Having replaced politics, even the economy, in order to govern, must now be integrated with the … Continue reading Lockdown: Collateral Damage in the War on COVID-19

‘It is clear that, beyond the emergency situation linked to a certain virus which may in the future leave room for another, at issue is the design of a paradigm of government whose effectiveness will far exceed that of all forms of government known so far in the political history of the West.’ — Giorgio … Continue reading The State of Emergency as Paradigm of Government: Coronavirus Legislation, Implementation and Enforcement

‘If the truth is numerical, dry, factual, something that requires effort and study, then it is not truth for them, not something that can bewitch them.’ — Bertolt Brecht ‘Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting of their own free will.’ — Joseph Goebbels Table of Contents Five … Continue reading Manufacturing Consensus: The Registering of COVID-19 Deaths in the UK

Better take off your medical mask, put it on your head and call it a thinking cap, because today I want to talk about the Italian philosopher, Giorgio Agamben. Why? You ask. Two reasons. The first is because, since the coronavirus crisis began, Agamben, who lives in Italy, has been writing commentaries and reflections that … Continue reading Giorgio Agamben and the Biopolitics of COVID-19

The following are the daily entries in my diary since 9 April, and follow on from the four articles I have published on the coronavirus crisis, COVID-19 and Capitalism, Sociology of a Disease, Language is a Virus, and Coronazombies! The conflicting information about the virus and the disease it can cause is spreading so rapidly that this seemed … Continue reading Good Morning, Coronazombies! Diary of a Bio-Political Crisis Event

On 25 March, Architects for Social Housing was approached to respond to some questions from WIRED magazine about ‘how substandard home design will make this period of self-isolation worse for many people in the UK’. The resulting article, by Sophie Charara, was published as Our terrible housing stock is making lockdown life even worse; but … Continue reading Coronavirus, Government Lockdown and its effects on UK Housing

It’s a curious fact that, in every disaster movie that comes out of Hollywood, whatever threatens Western Civilisation, Humankind or Planet Earth typically starts with the United States of America, usually New York, but sometimes Los Angeles. Whether it’s alien invaders, nuclear war, the rise of artificial intelligence, terrorist attacks, a tsunami wave, an earth-bound … Continue reading Coronazombies! Infection and Denial in the United Kingdom

This is the third in the series of articles I’m writing about what has become known as the coronavirus pandemic. In the first, COVID-19 and Capitalism, I argued that the UK Government’s decision to send workers home without pay while compensating businesses for lost revenue with vast sums of public money was capitalism attempting to recoup … Continue reading Language is a Virus: SARs-CoV-2 and the Science of Political Control