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Introducing The Psy-omatics of Encounter

In my earlier writing on Mesotopia: Towards a Place of Lyrical Inquiry, I proposed that meaning doesn’t live in the mind or the world alone, but somewhere between — in the mesotopic zone where bodies, environments, and language meet. The mesotopia is not a fixed place but a field of relation: a shifting terrain in which the real and the unreal, the felt and the thought, co-emerge through the act of encounter. This is not the materialist view that there is a “real world” out there waiting to be known, nor is it a purely idealist stance that the world is just a projection of the mind. The mesotopian perspective holds that the world is real, but it can never be fully known — only felt, intuited, translated and partially expressed through our sensory and linguistic entanglements with it.

This brings me to what I call the Psy-omatics of Encounter. By this I mean the subtle interplay between psyche and soma — mind and body — in the process of making meaning from environmental experience. Every encounter, whether with a tree, a breeze, or a city street, is not simply registered by the senses but interpreted by the nervous system, the emotions, and the imagination. These layers overlap and modulate one another in complex ways. The body registers vibrations and textures; the psyche weaves these into narratives, memories, and associations. Meaning, in this sense, is a psycho-somatic improvisation — an event that unfolds in the middle space between our physiological being and the environment’s affective impositions.

This is where I locate the process of lyrical production. My process of lyrical poesis emerges from these embodied encounters. Rather than treating poetry as a form of representation, I use it as a method of inquiry — a way to stay with the textures of experience before they are translated into fixed categories. Through this practice, I explore how different languages orient us differently toward the environment. Some languages, for example, frame the nonhuman world as animated and relational; others cast it as a passive backdrop for human action. By writing through and with these differences, I seek to expose the underlying psychic and bodily rhythms that shape our sense of environmental being.

It is crucial to emphasise that these encounters are localised events. They happen in the specificity of place — this humidity, this soundscape, this particular alignment of body and weather. Yet our minds often intervene, filtering these sensations through anthropocentric schemas. We name, measure, and categorise what we meet. This filtering process makes the world intelligible, but it also diminishes its strangeness. It reduces the real weirdness of environmental being — the sense that the world exceeds our concepts, that it vibrates with meanings we cannot fully articulate.

For this reason, I argue that intuition remains fundamental to any inquiry into the environment. Intuition is not anti-intellectual; it is the body’s capacity to sense patterns before they crystallise into thought. It is how we orient ourselves toward the more-than-human field of existence. Much of what we call environmental knowledge, from early cosmologies to modern ecological insight, has emerged from this intuitive mode of knowing. The Psy-omatics of Encounter, then, is not just a theory — it is an invitation to feel-think our way into the world again, to rediscover the lyrical intelligence that has always connected psyche, soma, and earth.

As always, my a’th kar!

Here is a link to my thesis which features a more detailed description of my work:

https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/ada-theses/113/

 

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Introducing The Mesotopia: Living Between Physical and Symbolic Worlds

I often begin by saying that my approach to meaning-making differs sharply from the purely materialist assumption that ‘there is a real world and it can be known’. The mesotopian position, by contrast, begins from the more unsettling but, I think, more honest claim: there is a real world, but it can never be completely known. This is not a retreat into relativism or mysticism; indeed, I argue for demystifying the process of meaning-making. I advance a philosophy of embodied recognition that every act of knowing is situated, partial, and mediated through the strange vehicle of human experience.

In the mesotopia, meaning arises not from the fixed solidity of matter, nor from the abstract play of language, but in the dynamic, lived zone where sensing, thinking, and doing meet. The prefix meso- means “middle,” and it’s in this middle terrain that I locate philosophy as a practice, not as a system. It’s a space of tension, friction, and constant negotiation—where perception and intuition interweave to produce what we take to be “the real.”

Materialism offers the comfort of certainty: a belief that, if we look hard enough, we can strip away illusion and stand before reality as it truly is. The mesotopian approach rejects that fantasy. Instead, it invites us to dwell in partial revelation—to see knowledge as a series of embodied engagements that illuminate fragments of the world while inevitably casting others into shadow. What we call “understanding” is not the conquest of the unknown, but a dance with its irreducible strangeness.

This is where the idea of weirdness enters. In my work, weirdness isn’t about the quirky or bizarre, but about that unsettling quality that appears when reality refuses to be fully domesticated by human thought or desire. The weird announces itself when our conceptual frameworks falter—when the world shows itself to be more alive, more complex, more surprising than our categories allow. Weirdness, then, is not an obstacle to meaning but the sign of meaning’s vitality. It’s the pulse that reminds us we are both active and passive participants in a strange confederation of things that keep their secrets.

In the mesotopia, to encounter weirdness is to encounter reality itself. Our bodies, our gestures, our creative acts—these are not secondary to thought but integral to it. The way we move, speak, and make art are all ways of negotiating that strange boundary between what can be known and what forever escapes categorisation. Philosophy, in this sense, becomes an art of attunement—a way of staying sensitive to the rhythms of a world that exceeds our grasp.

So the mesotopian project is neither to master the real nor to deny it. It is to inhabit it—to live in that fertile middle space where knowledge and mystery coexist, where the world’s weirdness is not a problem to solve but a companion to think with. To be mesotopian is to make meaning a bodily act, to feel thought as movement, and to accept, joyfully, that the real will always remain just beyond the horizon of what we can name.

As always, my a’th kar.

x

A link to an informal vlog discussing this blog can be found here:

A link to my recent thesis in The University of Plymouth’s archives can be found here:

https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/ada-theses/113/

 

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Is Cornish Nationalism Part of a Broader Strategy of Tension?

The Cold War term ‘strategy of tension’ precisely describes how a deliberate cultivation of fear, division, and polarisation maintains strict political control over entire populations. Nowhere was that logic more clearly institutionalised than in Operation Gladio, the clandestine stay-behind network exposed in western Europe during the early 1990s. The revelations of Gladio, examined in detail by the European Parliament in 1990 (1) and subsequent Italian parliamentary inquiries, demonstrated that NATO-linked structures funded and trained secret paramilitary cells that engaged in manipulation of political life, propaganda, and acts of terrorism designed to discredit left-wing organisations.

The Gladio inquiries confirmed that such networks were real, coordinated through the Clandestine Planning Committee under NATO auspices, and operated without meaningful democratic oversight (1). The absence of accountability remains instructive: if the alliance could sustain covert political operations for decades throughout western Europe, which included false-flag terror attacks that killed hundreds of citizens, why would anyone, conservative or liberal, not believe that such groups would be capable of carrying out similar operations today?

Furthermore, while researching my thesis I had the feeling that something about the push for Cornish nationalism was off, but I couldn’t quite articulate why I felt like that. Most people I have met who advocate for an independent Cornwall are sincere in their beliefs; however, I detect underlying inconsistencies about what such a nationalist project entails.

When I first read The Last of the Celts (2006) by Marcus Tanner (4), I recall being delighted by its seemingly objective view of Cornish life which resonated with my own politically naïve rural upbringing. It presented the Cornish nationalist movement as well-meaning but misguided in its desire for an independent Cornish nation. The Last of the Celts seemed at odds with Tanner’s earlier work in service of NATO in which he had written of how a cultural revival of Illyrianism and Croatian independence could serve as a vehicle for anti-communist and pro-NATO state projects (5 – 6). As a more conservative commentator, I wondered why he hadn’t presented Cornish independence in a more positive light.

In 2008, Peter Tatchell weighed in with a Guardian article on Cornish devolution which, perhaps unintentionally, fits within Tanner’s Illyrian pattern (7). Framing Cornwall’s cultural revival—its language, economic neglect, and sense of distinctiveness—as grounds for autonomy, Tatchell advanced a civic, human-rights vocabulary of recognition. While ostensibly being anti-NATO, I can’t help noticing that Tatchell often highlights the human rights abuses of NATO’s enemies and therefore subtly re-enforces NATO soft-power.

It is still unclear to me what is meant by the term ‘Cornish Nationalism’. Ask a Cornish nationalist what they mean by Cornish nationalism, and you will get answers that range from the establishment of a homeland for a protected ethnic minority (8), to a collection of qualities that anyone who wishes to can simply adopt. Which is it? Over the course of my research, I have met conservative people who welcome foreign investment to support their status as an ‘ethnic minority’ and left-wing people who don’t want to talk about international class solidarity but would rather work on their spiritual connection to the land. I guess Cornish nationalism is shorthand for a political movement devoid of any principles – it’s essentially whatever you want it to be.

While I cannot prove any Gladio-like covert operation to cultivate this confusion, Cornish nationalism does appear to me to be a convenient way to divert attention away from legitimate critiques of economic disenfranchisement. Such covert operations in the UK are not new. There is plenty of evidence of state infiltration and manipulation of political movements and I encourage readers to follow the ongoing ‘Spycops’ inquiry (9) which documents the shocking lengths to which clandestine state actors will go to infiltrate and manipulate any grass-roots political group vaguely critical of state power.

There are three main reasons why I think Cornish nationalism exhibits qualities akin to a strategy of tension:

1. Fragmentation of Class Solidarity.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Gladio sought to prevent left-wing unity through the creation of internal enemies. Today, the divisions are stoked through the cultivation of increasing ‘identities’. As such, Cornish, Welsh, or Scottish nationalisms re-localise political energy, dividing workers who share economic conditions into segregated cultural blocs.

2. Cultural Channels of Influence.
Where Gladio used paramilitaries, the contemporary state and its allies use funding streams. NATO’s Science for Peace and Security programme, EU cultural grants, and UK regional-resilience projects engage universities, NGOs, and local councils. These initiatives are transparent and lawful, yet they replicate the same institutional geometry: money and legitimacy flowing from transnational power centres into local intermediaries that serve a global neo-liberal politic.

3. Manufactured Instability and Managed Resolution.
A mild level of cultural tension can be politically useful. It sustains the narrative of diversity and democratic pluralism while justifying ongoing engagement by central authorities and security institutions.

Celtic nationalism’s re-emergence within neoliberal Britain functions as both instrument and symptom of capitalist crisis. Deindustrialisation and austerity have hollowed out working-class organisation. Into that void steps cultural revivalism—a politics that offers recognition without redistribution. The Cornish worker, stripped of collective power, finds symbolic compensation in a flag and a revived language.

Antonio Gramsci’s notion of passive revolution is instructive here: the ruling order absorbs elements of popular culture to prevent revolutionary rupture (15). Cornwall’s identity politics, when funded and validated by state and supranational agencies, represents precisely this absorption. It channels anger into manageable narratives of heritage, tourism, and local governance—harmless to capital and convenient to the geopolitical architecture that sustains it.

To invoke Gladio is not to allege bombs beneath Bodmin Moor. It is to recognise that the form of power—its reliance on fragmentation, on fear, on the management of identity—has endured even as its methods have evolved. What has changed is the medium: from covert armies to cultural partnerships, from false-flag violence to discourse management. The strategy of tension has been civilised, bureaucratised, normalised.

Cornish nationalism, like its Celtic counterparts, is sincere, creative, and rooted in genuine grievance. Yet it also illustrates how culture can become an instrument of governance. The historical record of Operation Gladio reveals the capacity of NATO and its affiliates to shape domestic political environments in service of maintaining economic control (10-14). The current celebration of Celtic identity performs a similar ideological function: it fragments working-class unity, redirects discontent into heritage, and sustains the hegemony of the transatlantic order.

As always…

My a’th Kar!

References:

Primary & Institutional Sources

1. European Parliament (1990). Resolution on the Gladio Affair. European Parliament’s 1990 resolution (A3-205/90) Official Journal of the European Communities, C324/201.
— Documents the exposure of clandestine NATO-linked “stay-behind” networks operating in Western Europe during the Cold War.
[Available via European Parliament archives]

2. UK Ministry of Defence. Joint UK–NATO Training Exercises: Annual Reports. (Various years 1995–2023).
— Provides information on joint exercises in South West England, including Cornwall, showing the region’s strategic military role.
[MOD Open Data & Defence Committee reports]

3. Council of Europe (2014). Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities: United Kingdom Compliance Report.
— Recognises the Cornish as a national minority, illustrating institutional support for regional cultural identity.

Secondary Literature: Tanner and Cultural Nationalism

4. Tanner, Marcus (2003). The Last of the Celts. Yale University Press.
— Explores cultural revival movements across Celtic regions and their political resonances in the late 20th century.

5. Tanner, Marcus (1997). Croatia: A Nation Forged in War. Yale University Press.
— Examines how cultural and linguistic revival were instrumentalised during post-Soviet transitions in the Balkans.

6. Tanner, Marcus (1990s). Articles for Balkan Insight and related NATO-aligned think tanks.
— Promoted narratives of national self-determination as part of post-Communist democratisation discourse.
[See Balkan Insight archives, c.1995–2001]

Media & Civic Commentary

7. Tatchell, Peter (2008). “Cornwall’s Case for Self-Government.” The Guardian.
— Argues for devolved governance and recognition of Cornish cultural identity within a human-rights framework.
[Available on The Guardian archive]

8. BBC News (2014). “Cornish People Granted Minority Status within the UK.”
— Confirms the official policy shift recognising Cornish distinctiveness.

9. Ongoing ‘Spycops’ Case. (n.d.) Undercover Policing Inquiry: Official Website. [online] Available at: https://www.ucpi.org.uk/

Academic and Analytical Works on NATO and the ‘Strategy of Tension’ 

10. Ganser, Daniele (2005). NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe. Frank Cass Publishers.
— Scholarly investigation into the historical structure of Gladio and its use of controlled instability for political effect.

11. Kaldor, Mary (2006). New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era. Polity Press.
— Analyses how modern warfare and alliances use identity politics to maintain control in post-industrial societies.

12. Harvey, David (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press.
— Provides the Marxist foundation for understanding how decentralised nationalism can serve to fragment the working class under neoliberal regimes.

13. Anderson, Benedict (1983). Imagined Communities. Verso.
— Foundational text on how national identities are culturally constructed and politically mobilised.

14. Monaghan, Andrew (2017). Power in Modern Europe: NATO, EU and Russia. Manchester University Press.
— Discusses NATO’s post–Cold War soft power strategy and civil-society engagement mechanisms.

Theoretical & Marxist Context

15. Gramsci, Antonio (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Lawrence & Wishart.
— Introduces the concept of cultural hegemony, crucial for understanding NATO’s ideological influence.

16. Hobsbawm, Eric & Ranger, Terence (eds.) (1983). The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press.
— Explores how cultural symbols are consciously re-engineered to serve political ends.

 

 

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Why You Should be Embarrassed to be Associated with UK News

I’m a pretty calm and collected human these days, but when this image by Andres Kudacki for AP dropped into my inbox, my brain immediately broke.

President al Sharaa and David Petraeus (1)

I had been working in different countries for universities as well as with people displaced from various conflicts seeking refuge from (mainly) Iraq, Syria and Palestine. When I returned to the UK, I recall having very awkward conversations with former colleagues of mine who still worked in (quote/unquote) “news” rooms… I remember being called a ‘crank’ for suggesting that the ‘moderate rebels’ who were being supported by various factions of the US empire were actually al-Qaeda and ISIS. People I had met, including Europeans and Israelis, were certain that these ‘terrorist’ organisations were created by the CIA and were supported by NATO, Saudi and Israeli contingents in order to destabilise the region. It wasn’t until 2017 that I started to hear details of a covert operation called ‘Timber Sycamore'(2) which alluded to what I had heard overseas and had been repeating at home.

Hence my broken brain at seeing this picture of the former general and CIA director David Petraeus, sitting there with the member of al-Qaeda and founder of ISIS, who is the now ‘President’ of new and improved, Israel friendly Syria.

Basically, and it should be obvious to everyone, the ongoing tactic of US empire is to create a violent enemy (ISIS, Hamas etc) to serve as a pretext for regime change in order to steal land and resources for a few Mittel-European industrialists and financiers, while UK media institutions generate the cover story. I understand that the internet is full of unverifiable information, right now, it is the only place to access content vaguely critical of US foreign policy. The job of all UK media institutions, including the hallowed Beeb,  is not to inform the general public, but to lie to us. To work in UK media right now, you have to either not know this fact or not care  – either way, nobody should take you seriously.

It doesn’t matter whether you consider yourself ‘left’ or ‘right’, when it comes to trying to discuss anything of real political substance in the UK, most of the time you are arguing over vapour.

I generally keep my mouth shut in most social situations these days; however, the propaganda is so pervasive it’s impossible to avoid even though I don’t have a TV or buy newspapers. I go to the gym and 6-Music is playing and it’s giving 6 bullshit headlines every hour and I think to myself – why on earth would any edgy music artist or DJ want to be associated with any of this?

There’s a point where polite criticism becomes complicity, and when it comes to UK media institutions, that line was crossed decades ago. Today, any attachment to the British press—be it BBC, The Guardian, The Times, or the tabloids—should be a source not of pride or professionalism, but of embarrassment. Why? Because these institutions have consistently failed in their most basic duty: to provide reliable information. I have to ask, is anybody even slightly embarrassed about working at these places?

Take US foreign policy. The record of UK reporting is not one of minor slips or excusable oversights. It is a litany of cowardice and distortion. From Iraq to Afghanistan, from Libya to Syria, the role of the US in destabilising entire regions has been softened, downplayed, or outright rewritten by UK outlets desperate to look ‘serious’ while staying within the boundaries of Washington consensus. When George W. Bush and Tony Blair lied Britain into war, the press marched behind them waving the Union Jack, then quietly shuffled away from accountability once the blood was spilled. The Chilcot Report confirmed what dissenters had said all along—yet by then, who in the press was left with the credibility to confront their own failure?

The same pattern plays out with NATO. Supposedly a defensive alliance, NATO’s history has been one of training extremist terror groups, expansion, provocation, and military adventurism dressed in humanitarian clothing. From the Balkans to Libya, NATO operations have been presented in the UK media as clean interventions to protect civilians, rather than as power plays that leave countries shattered and millions of lives ruined (3). Despite all of this, the mainstream line remains the same: NATO good, NATO necessary, NATO the last bastion of civilisation. The most terrifying thing about all of this is that most people in the UK just accept these lies uncritically. Even the ‘radical’, trendy people continue to turn on the BBC, buy their ‘Radio One Glastonbury’ ticket and participate in the piss-poor theatre of brain-dead content that is ‘rOcK’n’RoLL’.

And then there’s Israel. Where do we even begin with that? Have we finally reached the point where we are allowed to discuss reality yet? I don’t know, I don’t have a TV. The UK press still seems desperate to avoid hurting the feelings of a few neurotic boomers, but I think that strategy has failed. According to YouGuv polling (4) people are thankfully questioning the ‘official’ narrative. Despite the endless manipulation of facts, the mounting evidence of crimes against humanity cannot be ignored. Jewish people from across the political spectrum, from all around the world are outraged by the atrocities being committed in their names and I would encourage you to seek out the work of people like; Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal, Katie Halper, Matt Bernstein, Aaron Mate, as well as the chaps over at ‘Due Dissidence’ (5).

Foreign policy is domestic policy. The perpetuation of these lies regarding foreign policy is essential for maintaining domestic control, which is why UK citizens can never vote against US Empire, Neoliberal financial institutions or NATO. Regardless of whether we consider ourselves conservative or liberal, none of us are free in the UK to discuss the obvious truth about what US empire has been doing all around the world for decades. Personally, I can never respect anyone who works in mainstream news media and I strongly encourage anyone reading this to do the same. Turn them off, tune them out and always assume they are lying to you.

As always,

My a’th Kar!

I discuss this post in more detail in the following video:

References:

(1) Motamedi, M. (2025). Syrian President al-Sharaa sits down with US general who arrested him. [online] Al Jazeera. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/23/syrian-president-al-sharaa-sits-down-with-us-general-who-arrested-him [Accessed 28 Sep. 2025].

(2) Hackett, J. (2025). Covert Action in Irregular Wars: Unraveling the Case of Timber Sycamore in Syria (2012-2017). [online] Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/394277022_Covert_Action_in_Irregular_Wars_Unraveling_the_Case_of_Timber_Sycamore_in_Syria_2012-2017.

(2), Wikipedia. (2022). Timber Sycamore. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_Sycamore.

(3) Glenn Diesen (2025). Daniele Ganser: NATO’s Dirty Wars – The Legacy of Operation Gladio. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tcbrG8eG88 [Accessed 28 Sep. 2025].

(3) MintPress News (2023). The CIA, NATO and the US Empire with Aaron Good. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQPUBv_YC0A [Accessed 28 Sep. 2025].

(4) Smith, M. (2025). British attitudes to the Israel-Gaza conflict: July 2025 update. [online] Yougov.co.uk. Available at: https://yougov.co.uk/international/articles/52694-british-attitudes-to-the-israel-gaza-conflict-july-2025-update.

(5) Norman Finkelstein. (n.d.). Norman Finkelstein. [online] Available at: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com/.

(5) The Grayzone. (n.d.). The Grayzone – Investigative journalism on empire. [online] Available at: https://thegrayzone.com/.

‌(5) YouTube. (n.d.). Katie Halper. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsMkDtVyel9USjCTaM42rw [Accessed 28 Sep. 2025].

(5) matt bernstein (2025). The Antisemitism Panic. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S_z0i6SR2E [Accessed 3 Jun. 2025].

(5) YouTube. (n.d.). Due Dissidence. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC743NEuMiqYOaUHO4oPhI2Q [Accessed 28 Sep. 2025].

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Some Thoughts on Cornish Nationalism

Growing up in Cornwall in the 1970s, I witnessed the end of its era as an industrial region. As I recall, the tin mining industry had shrunk to only a few working mines; however, ECLP (as it was known then) still produced large amounts of high-quality kaolin and employed many local people. More importantly, numerous local factories and works ensured that towns such as St Austell, near my home, remained hubs of thriving economic activity. It still surprises me how rapidly these communities dissolved following the removal of major industry. By the mid-1980s, towns like St Austell were defined by mass unemployment and all the attendant social problems: broken homes, petty crime, and substance abuse.

What exactly is the legacy of centuries of industrial activity?

I began this essay with a brief story of growing up near St Austell to illustrate several points. Firstly, it’s important to highlight the lack of investment in communities of workers who generated vast amounts of wealth for a small number of industrialists and financiers. Secondly, I want to stress that this story is not only about Cornwall—it is a story shared by every community in the UK that has faced deindustrialisation. In my case, I managed to find work in various service industries and first left Cornwall as a young teenager. I’m not exaggerating when I say that for many young men leaving school in the mid-eighties, the only options were the army or, via drug dealing, prison.

But where did all the money go?

Keep this simple question in mind. I believe that any political movement focusing on redressing the excesses of financial extortion in the UK will resonate with the vast majority of people. During the ‘financial crash’ of 2008, I was working as a freelance researcher, though I remained close to many of my former colleagues at the BBC. We wanted to report on how the crash wasn’t caused by ‘mismanagement’ but was, in fact, a deliberate strategy to extort vast amounts of money from the public purse. Rona Fairhead, then chair of the BBC Trust, was also a non-executive director of HSBC (5). She made it clear that such reporting would not be in the public interest. It’s worth noting that this was the largest theft of public money in history, and people like Rona continued to be paid handsomely while many families in the UK still cannot afford anywhere to live.

This is how power functions in London: it is hidden, opaque, and it rewards the worst people. To mount any meaningful challenge to political power, it is vital to acknowledge how the financial services sector underpins every political, social, and academic institution. I suggest that Westminster does not govern the financial institutions known as ‘the City’—rather, these institutions govern Westminster. Therefore, I struggle to understand how asking Westminster to ‘recognise’ a Cornish nation would be economically empowering for Cornish people.

I understand the arguments for recognising a specific Cornish identity based on a historical tradition distinct from other regions of the UK. I am proud of my Cornish heritage and proud to be a speaker of Kernewek. I continue to support friends in Cornwall who see Cornish nationalism as a vehicle for political change. Yma kerensa y’n geryow ma. However, I’m not convinced that generating a new political reality from vaguely defined qualities will benefit what remains of the Cornish people currently living in Cornwall.

Please consider these three statements while reading this essay:

  1. Proclaiming national political sovereignty while maintaining dependence on fundamentally untrustworthy financial systems cannot solve the problems of economic disenfranchisement.
  2. In the UK, real political power lies in financial institutions.
  3. Foreign policy is domestic policy.

Rather than focusing on the fact that profits from centuries of industrial production have been funnelled offshore to fund a few lavish lifestyles, vast amounts of time, energy, and money have been spent ensuring that political discourse avoids the simple question: where did all the money go?

Last November, I attended an evening at the Penryn university campus which explored ways in which agan yeth (our language) could be used in political activism. There was a charming young chap who advocated ‘borrowing’ (or appropriating) elements of Māori whakapapa—the links between Māori and land—and applying them to Kernewek activism. Many Māori people I know would not be happy with this misappropriation; some Māori activists might think it acceptable. Regardless, I spoke with the presenter, and he said it was important to highlight a Kernewek connection to the land, which he called Awen. I thought it sounded quite ‘Thulian’ (the Thule Society being an esoteric occult group affiliated with the German Völkisch movement that gave rise to Nazi ideology), and he laughingly agreed that it sounded “a bit fash!”

To be clear—I’m not claiming this man was consciously promoting Nazi ideology—but I want to illustrate how complicated discourse around national ‘identity’ becomes when the focus shifts from the impacts of economic exploitation to ideas of an organic community united by shared culture, language, and hardship.

For Cornish nationalism to serve my people as a vehicle for political change, one must accept that my family from the Trelander estate in Truro shares a political goal with, say, the Boscawen family. We’re both Cornish families—right? Therefore, according to the logic of our friend at Penryn College, we all share a spiritual connection to Cornish land and unique qualities of Cornishness distinguishing us from everyone else in the UK. That doesn’t sound like participatory politics to me; it sounds like Lord of the Rings-style feudalism.

My politics are not informed by my Kernewek identity. They are diametrically opposed to everything the Boscawen family represents—regardless of whether we identify as Kernewek, English, or British. My family, like many others, has had to navigate the economic turmoil of deindustrialisation and its resulting social issues. The Boscawens, by contrast, have profited from exploiting cheap labour in mining operations and, no doubt, from savvy financial investments in imperial markets. Politically, my family has more in common with working-class families in the post-industrial north of England than with the Boscawens.

I am somewhat confused by the need to “be recognised as the UK’s fifth nation” (1), particularly in light of Councillor Cole’s statement that:

“Standing up for Cornwall is what this bill is all about… The leader of the council has made it clear that he is committed to securing meaningful devolution, whilst also protecting the integrity of our Celtic nation as a political unit. I believe he is right in doing this.”

“We have a thousand years of history and a myriad of reasons—cultural, economic, environmental, linguistic, social—as to why we need to stand together and maintain our unity in pushing for that meaningful and bespoke settlement for Cornwall.” (1)

This suggests to me that obtaining political recognition as a Celtic nation is ultimately about “securing meaningful devolution” (1). Presumably, a more autonomous Cornwall would function similarly to Wales—but on a much smaller scale. So let’s look at the Wales Economic and Fiscal Report 2024 (2) to assess how Welsh devolution between 1998 and 2011 affected the Welsh economy. I’m still working through the report, but a statement in the Executive Summary illustrates my point:

“Wales’ economy is deeply embedded within the wider UK economy. Many of the general trends which affect the UK are likely to be reflected or heavily influence Welsh economic conditions.” (2:3)

There are many such statements. The more I read, the more challenging questions arise. I have no doubt that many Welsh people prefer a more autonomous Wales; however, if the economy remains tied to the City of London, what are the material benefits for working people? The cachet of distancing oneself from ‘Englishness’ might be appealing, but Welsh people are effectively tethered to the same exploitative financial institutions as everyone else. Why have people in Wales permitted some of the worst elements of English society to manage the economy of their devolved Celtic nation? Who benefits from this arrangement?

Returning to my earlier provocation—‘foreign policy is domestic policy’—I don’t think most people in the UK realise how much of the economy depends upon ongoing exploitation of cheap labour overseas. People who work in the City will happily trade with the worst and wealthiest people on the planet: theocrats, dictators, human traffickers, drug cartels, and arms dealers. From what I can gather, most companies trade the products of cheap, exploited, or slave labour from around the world to launder profits obtained from dealing in drugs, weapons, and oil.

Obviously, this is a simplification, but once you cut through the PR, that’s basically what is happening. People far more informed than me have written about this for decades. To what extent can Westminster exert any real power over international racketeering on this scale (7)? Far from being the heart of UK politics, Westminster is a distraction from the real business of the financial markets. Scotland and Ireland appear to have taken steps to challenge London’s economic grip, which is interesting—for example, Scotland’s ongoing fight over North Sea oil profits (3) and Ireland’s popular policy of boycotting Israeli settlements (4). These are real political battles.

Any discussion of national or personal identity is inflammatory—which is why many corporate and media institutions committed to maintaining the economic status quo are so happy to perpetuate them. ‘Divide and conquer’ is not just a catchy Roman phrase; it’s a strategy that powerful regimes have used to control people since Philip II of Macedon. I can’t help but think that the radical politics of Wales, which once had a huge impact on UK political discourse, has effectively been neutered—channelled into a semi-nationalist movement still subordinate to the City of London.

These lingering, quasi-imperial financial institutions are repulsive, and I empathise with the desire to vote ourselves off the island. However, we must be clear-eyed about who benefits from further devolving the UK into semi-autonomous regions still anchored to the current financial system. Personally, I think it’s better to raise economic consciousness as a tool for cultivating popular movements that push for real material change across the UK—though I could be wrong.

The more I come to understand how the UK functions as a social and political entity, the more I feel I’ve been defined by my economic status rather than my Kernewek heritage—and I am keen to learn how a semi-autonomous Kernow would change that.

As always—my a’th kar!

References:

1 –  Cornwall Council Website (2025) Cornwall Council Passes Motion Calling for Cornwall to Be Recognised as Fifth Nation. Accessed 2025. https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-news/council-budgets-and-economy/cornwall-council-passes-motion-calling-for-cornwall-to-be-recognised-as-the-uk-s-fifth-nation/

2 – Welsh Government (2024) Wales Economic and Fiscal Report 2024. Accessed 2025. https://www.gov.wales/wales-economic-and-fiscal-report-2024

3 – BBC News (2024) What Will The Election Mean for North Sea Oil?. Accessed 2025. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crgl32zjpwdo

4 – O’Carroll, L. (2025) Irish Government to Unveil Bill Banning Imports from Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Guardian. Accessed 2025: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/26/ireland-bill-ban-imports-from-occupied-palestinian-territories

5- Plunket, J (2015) Rona Fairhead: My Main Focus is the BBC, Not HBC. The Guardian. Accessed 2025: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/mar/04/rona-fairhead-main-focus-bbc-not-hsbc

6 – Verran (2025) The Mesotopia: Towards a Place of Lyrical Inquiry. Student Thesis PhD. University of Plymouth. Accesed 2025: https://researchportal.plymouth.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/mesotopia-towards-a-place-of-lyrical-inquiry

7 – Wintour, P (2024) Nearly 40% of Dirty Money is Laundered in London and UK Crown dependencies. The Guardian. Accessed 2025: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/14/nearly-40-of-dirty-money-is-laundered-in-london-and-uk-crown-dependenies

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‘Queering Everything’ – is it Progressive and Inclusive?

Since my return to the UK, I’ve noticed that more and more people are casually referring to me as ‘queer’. Also, while hunting for social events, I’ve found increasing numbers of LGBT+ groups using ‘queer’ to distinguish themselves from all those reactionary old ‘gays’. To be clear, I know the good people organising these groups are not intending to exclude anyone, but I think I’ve earned the right to ask a few questions. Firstly, do you acknowledge that ‘queer’ is still a common slur outside of your middle-class liberal enclave or social group?  I work with multiple working-class and minority communities around the UK and I can confidently report that ‘queer’ is still commonly used as a pejorative. Secondly, are you aware of just how off-putting this word  is to some people who are from working class or minority groups within the LGBT+ community? This strikes me as counter-intuitive to your intended desire to achieve more inclusion from groups outside your socio-economic class. Finally, are you aware that most of us in the UK who were made homeless or violently assaulted throughout the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s were labelled ‘queers’?  Oh… You are… Good. So, why do you feel entitled to ‘reclaim’ that term?

June 2015 – RIP Pride/ QUEERFIGHTBACK
June 2015
This is when we hijacked London Pride as a protest against the corporate capture of LGBT discourse.

I blame myself. I have always been very proactive in the movement to ‘reclaim’ a radical ‘queer’ politics. For example, in the early 2000’s London Pride had become a bloated corporate mess that took money from insanely anti-human institutions (see images). I worked alongside different people who had become disillusioned with the extent to which LGBT+ life had become an exercise in corporate branding. In my defence, I felt like I was doing the right thing at the time. I’m often asked to explain the term ‘queer’ and I find it difficult. I feel that the multiple applications of this term have become a form of chaos magic intended to disassociate me from my own lived experience. However, I believe I can aggregate current usage of ‘queer’  into three main categories:

1 – “Queer” =  “a 21st century reboot of the traditional suburban swinger”

So, you’re wanting to spice up your physical or emotional life by inviting other consenting bodies into your polycule for exploration and experimentation- congratulations! You are now emulating all of those people who got drunk on ‘Blue Nun’ in the late 70’s and voted for Margret Thatcher. No shade intended. Consenting adults can and will do whatever they want. I suppose we have the internet now which makes it all somehow different, but, I don’t know.

2 – “Queer” = “a boutique brand for middle class professionals”

Yeah, if I’d played my cards right, I probably could have turned my sincere objections to the corporate capture of LGBT+ issues into a lucrative grift as a ‘professional’ LGBT+ voice, activist, influencer or media hack. Professional class LGBT+ folk can (and do) make a lot of money grabbing people’s attention by arguing over incendiary cultural topics de jour rather than, oh I don’t know, offering any substantive critique of social or economic inequality.

3 – “Queer” = “an academic rebranding of theories and discourses that have been around for a very long time”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a closet nerd. I LOVE revelling in theoretical shit, but I’m just unclear as to precisely what researchers hope to achieve by queering everything. I understand the impetus behind  the desire to apply this current inter-disciplinary theoretical lens to all fields of inquiry, but is it always generating new knowledge? I’ve referenced Gandy’s work on Queer Ecologies in my own research and agree that it provides a valuable tool for conceiving how various social groups interact with their environment. However, at times it feels to me that the language of queerness is clumsily added to subjects simply to rebrand pre-existing ideas as edgy or innovative.

For example, it’s been years since I read Judith Butler’s ‘Gender Trouble’. As I recall, it contains ideas that harmonise with many of my own academic interests. I like how Butler has expanded JL Austin’s concept of ‘performative utterances‘ (Austin; 1979, pp233-252) to generate a thought experiment that critiques socially constructed stereotypes. At least I think that’s what Butler is doing, often the text is quite contradictory and confusing. I also really like the idea that people are comprised of both a material body and an immaterial aspect that confederate into a unified social being. I detect elements of her theories echo pre-existing discourses such as, among other things, the ‘Corpus Hermeticum’ which describes an ancient Egyptian concept of ‘Ka’.

My a’th Kar (I thee love) is about putting academic theory into community practice. Over the past few years, I have been gradually moving away from LGBT+ work in favour of issues that better align with my principals of social inclusion; namely, addressing economic inequality and social disenfranchisement. As such I’ve been thinking about the outcomes of applying queer theory to projects dedicated to community outreach and engagement. To reiterate, I really don’t care what you call yourself, your friends or your group. Go ahead, start your ‘Queer Rambling’ group – I wish you nothing but the best. However, to be frank, I think that by signalling an adherence to current trends in middle-class academic discourse, you might well be excluding people whose experience of the word ‘queer’ is still very much negative. As LGBT+ people, we need to build robust networks that can effectively withstand any potential regressive backlash – don’t we? That probably includes working alongside people who are unfamiliar with the writing of Teresa de Lauretis or Judith Butler.

References:

Austin, JL. (1979)’Performative Utterances’ in Philosophical Papers 3rd Edition. Urmson, JL and Warnock, GJ (Ed). Clarendon Press.

Gandy, M. (2012). Queer Ecology: Nature, Sexuality, and Heterotopic Alliances. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 30(4), 727-747. https://doi.org/10.1068/d10511

Hermetica (1924) translated by Walter Scott. Clarendon Press.