The irony of irony

I have rewritten the blurb to my book Irony because I realised I had rushed the original blurb and it didn't accurately reveal what is in the book. As this book seems more pertinent than ever, I've also decided to blog about it. The cover art is one of my brother's amazing watercolour paintings (which he was happy for me to use).

Here's the new description:

Have you ever considered that the very act of questioning God's existence might be laced with irony? In this captivating non-fiction work, the author presents a unique and intriguing idea: that irony itself could be a subtle hint at the presence of a higher power.

Literary masters like Voltaire have long used irony to challenge spiritual beliefs, but what if this obscured the true irony - that God, with a playful wink, uses irony to invite us to seek him?

This book extends an invitation to explore faith from a fresh and captivating perspective. It is tailored for agnostics, seekers and doubters who grapple with reconciling the concept of a benevolent God within a world replete with negative ironies. It offers an original, practical and contemporary take on an age-old dilemma.

By embracing a broader understanding of irony, encompassing hypocrisy, serendipity, and those moments of 'crazy bad luck', the author illuminates how even in our sophisticated, post-ironic age, irony can serve as compelling evidence for a benevolent deity.

The notion that irony, so often associated with misfortune and contradiction, isn't, in fact, evidence for a malevolent God is also explored. How can these two seemingly disparate concepts coexist? The answer lies within these pages, and it is well worth discovering.

While this book won't provide easy answers to the age-old problem of suffering, nor promise worldly riches or viral fame, it dares to ask: why do you feel compelled to pick it up and yet, somehow, unable to take the plunge?
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Embark on this intellectual journey to challenge your preconceptions, engage with fresh insights and uncover a perspective that just might illuminate the existence of a God who is far more intriguing than you ever imagined.


If you are interested in this book, please take a look - it's available in print and as an ebook from here.

UK General Election 2024

 

It is sometimes said that democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.

Maybe there is some truth in that because there are many people who have been had for lunch in the 14 years, 2 months and 8 days since the Tories have been in power.

There are now 26 days to the general election. In a recent TV debate, Rishi Sunak (who, I believe to be a nice man in a nasty party (and also, desperately out of touch with people’s day-to-day lives)) said: “I would ask everyone to judge me by my actions.”

I don’t want to go into the specifics of the actions (and inactions) of the Government these past 14 years, but, safe to say, it has been the poor and vulnerable who have suffered the most. My brother constantly talked to me about the trouble he had with the Government in their treatment of him as a disabled person (he had rheumatoid arthritis from childhood). I cannot forget him telling me about how he had walked past a Conservative Club and a group of its members laughed across the street at him because of the way he walked. Multiply that small scene to many, many applications for help from a Government which has simply treated those with disabilities as ‘lunch’.

The existing problems have not gone anywhere. We simply have new ones too. If you struggle with mental health problems, if you are disabled, or if you need help from the Government in any way, when you apply for it, you will be treated with little dignity. And there is such a level of suspicion that even if you manage to jump through their hoops and get any kind of help, it is a minor miracle. It has been the case, these last 14 years that most of the genuine help has come through charities – they have been the ones who have kept the country from disintegrating. Parkinsons UK, The Brain Tumour Charity – you name your charity – these are the ones who continue to help those in need. Not this Government.

And in a country where there is so much homelessness and a change from a few thousand people using foodbanks to a few million now, you might be excused for thinking that the ‘Big Society’ idea is more up and running than ever.

‘Judge us by our actions.’

Seems reasonable. I’m old enough to remember the 1997 general election and how overjoyed I was to see Labour get in back then. I had even joined the party. But it wasn’t that long before I became disillusioned by Blair and the UK getting involved in the war in Iraq. I left the party and have never joined another since. While we wait for the Labour manifesto this time round, it seems to me, to be a case of voting for the least-worst option.

‘It doesn’t matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in.’

And maybe that’s why the system needs changing. Maybe even more radically than having proportional representation (although that would be a start)?

I know some friendly Conservatives – but the Tory Government have long abandoned any pretence of conserving anything but their own power. Now, they're appealing to our basest instincts with promises of tax cuts and security, all the while blaming minorities like Muslims and immigrants for their own failures. And I think Reform are also largely appealing to our prejudices.

My hope is that if and when Labour get in, they don’t behave like wolves again too.