Dr Joe Baker

@jsbaker.co.uk

272 Followers 489 Following

Writer. PhD in religion and narrative from Bristol University; I post about writing, reading, philosophy, current affairs, business, and more. jsbaker.co.uk | figuration.al | helios360.co.uk

A canal with a cinder towpath besides, receding into the distance, both beneath a extensive green foliage of tall trees, bushes, and water plants
Vineyards in the walled garden at Croft Castle in rural Herefordshire, with the castle n the background, beneath a classic English summer sky with blue aky and broken white clouds
Croft Castle and Church, in rural Herefordshire, under a perfect English summer sky with blue aky and white clouds
Screengrab of a random story from the Financial Times on Bluesky, illustrating the singular focus of just one topic on the screen, and no sense of contextual significance vs other topics
A dusty footpath through a field of yellow rapeseed flowers, under a bright but cloudy sky. A few green trees punctuate the landscape.
Yeah, sure, new books are great, but do you ever read old books? Have you ever read American Pastoral by Philip Roth?
A muddy path in a pine wood in rural Warwickshire
Yeah, sure, new books are great, but do you ever read old books? Have you ever read 'The Third Policeman' by Flann O’Brien?
An old bridge over a canal. The bridge has a number 54 plaque on it. There is an ominous cloudy winter sky above with a patch of blue.
2021-2022: Stock prices took off following the 2020 COVID-19 bear market as zero interest rates and trillions of stimulus dollars were used to get the economy going again. By 2021, the economy started to feel the fallout of all that liquidity in the system. The inflation rate jumped to 9% and the S&P 500 declined roughly 25% by the latter half of 2022. Screenshot from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-indicator-hitting-level-seen-182400883.html
The mixture for a Christmas Pudding, with a wooden spoon, in a ceramic bowl
Catalogue cover for Tarpaulins Direct
Cover image for 'Days Without End' by Sebastian Barry
Cover image for ‘Playground’, a novel by Richard Powers
President Trump, shown here during a 2018 meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman where they discussed arms deals, has blocked an effort to stem the sale of weapons to the Gulf country. Evan Vucci/AP
The Peace of Wild Things By Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favour of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the promise that "you can make it if you try". And the consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fuelled populist protest, with the triumph of Brexit and election of Donald Trump.
Screencap of the Guardian app on iOS, illustrating the dominance of opinion articles over news headlines, and showing how even the first headline is truncated
A close-up of blossom on a dwarf stellar magnolia tree
A black coffee with a perfect crema in a teal coloured handmade mug on a wooden table.
The Full French breakfast
A blue boat abandoned at the side of a grassy field. The boat is ‘High Tide’. It’s a sunny day with a cloudless blue sky above.
An espresso in a grey cup on a wooden table, and some reading matter on a tablet
Sunset over a small grassy hill, with the trees in near silhouette. A cart track is rising up the hill to the exact point where the sun is setting on top of the hill in fiery oranges and reds.
Cup of black coffee in a white cup on a wooden table, seen from above
Silhouette of the trunk and branches of a winter tree without leaves against a blue sky with the Sun low behind
Winter landscape view with a tree masked in mist and the hazy sun above
A lone sheep grazing in a field in the fog with bare winter trees blurred by the fog in the background
Cover art for 'How They Broke Britain,' by James O'Brien
Cover art for ‘Another England,’ by Caroline Lucas
Cover art for 'The Outrun' by Amy Liptrot
Cover art for 'Supercommunicators' by Charles Duhigg
Cover art for Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway
Cover art for 'Caledonian Road' by Andrew O'Hagan
Cover art for 'The Borrowed Hills' by Scott Preston
Cover art for 'The Mirror & the Light' by Hilary Mantel
Cover art for 'Enlightenment' by Sarah Perry
Track listing screen shot showing Sarah Baker, It Changes Around Me, followed by Claude Debussy, Rêverie
Snow day outside with a fireplace YouTube video playing on the television
Snowy rooftops and gardens
Screenshot, saying: Deactivated — Your account account is deactivated. Sorry to see you go. #Goodbye
Close up of bold pink orchid flowers
Cassette tape album artwork of Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, played by Nigel Kennedy
Evening city landscape with the Northern Lights maybe visible above the horizon
Excerpt from ‘Proverbs of Hell’ by William Blake, which starts: “In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead. The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”
Close-up of a cluster of snowdrop flowers, with winter trees in the background
A plaque on a post in woodland. The plaque reads, ‘PROPOSAL POINT: The root of many beautiful things. Jo and Elliot, Scattering acorns since 2013’
Abstract closeup of seasonal lights on a tree in a front garden
Stafford Town Hall, partially wrapped in scaffolding. A tall Christmas tree stands in front of the