Storm and Tempest

It's still Christmas. We lit the fire and watched The Lion King - 31st equal in the list of most expensive films ever made. The realism of the animals is amazing - Attenborough class, pixel perfect - until they start talking, of course, then it's downright weird, in a way that cartoon animations of talking animals are not. A fantasy world that requires you to exercise your imagination and believe in its creation is nourishing entertainment; a fantasy world served up fully-formed and asking nothing of you is candy floss

We brought ourselves back to life by analysing its philosophy and politics, which is execrable, regressive, establishment propaganda of the crudest kind. Its core message is that hierarchy and acceptance of authority are the natural order of things. Some are born to predate, some are born to be consumed; any attempt at radical change will destroy social order and everyone will suffer 

Using the natural world as a metaphor to argue for the inevitability of a societal status quo is an old trick of those who hold power. Things are how they are because it's 'natural'; if it wasn't so, the 'forces of nature' would bring about change. So we must all accept the role we have been allotted, be we a serf or a king

The natural world removed much of our agency today. Floods and wind and viruses mean that none of us are where we planned to be or doing what we planned to do. Luckily, there were still pies and tarts and firewood, and enough attention to recognise expensive lies