Ramblinactivist, camp cook at the 2008 Free Range Weekend
In my natural element – camp cook at the Free Range Weekend, 2008

Ramblinactivist’s Blogs

This is the central index for Paul Mobbs’ blogs – listing the latest posts from all four themed blogs.


Welcome to my blogs

I maintain my own independent blogs, not hosted on any (anti-)social media service so that I can retain condition-free access to content. There are no tracking widgets, ‘like’ or ‘share’ buttons, or data analytics attached to any of the content here so that you may browse and share links with relative privacy.

The problem with maintaining free and relatively private access to content is that it’s very difficult to promote and get a wide audience for my work. In today’s digital analytics popularity contest, all those features on a site are the principal way to get a wider audience. For that reason it would be greatly appreciated if you could follow, subscribe, or like my social media presence where I post my work.

Click the icons below the heading at the top of the page to access my various social media accounts – or to send feedback.



Forthcoming events

There are currently no forthcoming events

Ramblinactivist’s Blogs latest posts
(in reverse chronological order for the last 12 months)

June 2023

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.28: ‘The Collapse of Complex Societies’ (1988) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.28, Strawberry Moon 2023:

‘The Collapse of Complex Societies’ (1988)

Some books get a ‘reputation’ as a result of what people believe they say rather than on a detailed reading of the text. Just a word in the title – for example, ‘collapse’ – can be enough to invalidate their content without any appreciation of what they actually say.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

May 2023

Title slide for ‘The Meta-Blog’ ‘Ramblin’ News’ no.3 The Meta-Blog – ‘Ramblin’ News’ No.3, Flower Moon 2023:

The Unspeakable Death of the ‘Almighty Dollar’

For some months the ‘specialist’ media have been tracking a major structural change in the world’s economy brought-on by the Ukraine War: Not the well-publicised crisis of food or energy prices; but of who controls the world’s financial payments system, and its use to enforce Western sanctions.

Go to the YouTube video accompanying this post.

April 2023

Title image for Long Walks and Anarcho-Primitivism No.8. Long Walks & A/P, Part 8, Full Pink Moon 2023:

‘What’s With the Moon Names?’

The issue here is ‘mechanomorphism’: The tendency for humans in a technological environment to identify their essential being with that of a machine. This idea will take a little time for me to unpack – so please, unplug your remote network connections, disable interrupts, and drop your motor functions into standby mode!

Go directly to the video that accompanies this post.

Dowload PDF version this post.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.26: ‘Farewell to Growth’ (2007) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.26, Full Pink Moon 2023:

‘Farewell to Growth’ (2007)

Politicians and the media obsess about ‘economic growth’; but what if that ‘glorious thirty years’ of economic expansion from the 1960s has ended? This landmark text of the degrowth movement explores why growth’s ‘end is nigh’, and why this should be welcomed.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

March 2023

February 2023

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.25: ‘What Is Property?’ (1840) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.25, 16th February 2023:

‘What Is Property?’ (1840)

Proudhon, Property, and the Political Panic over ‘The Great Resignation’ – how this classic text prefigures the contemporary debate over work and well-being.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

Title slide for ‘The Meta-Blog’ no.25 ‘The Meta-Blog’, no.25, Imbolic 2023:

‘The Oil Machine’ – How environmental grand narratives obstruct ‘real’ change

The ‘ecological crisis’ is a big, technical, complicated issue; and all too often, therefore, how this is presented isolates and simplifies, and more especially, relies on commonly-held tropes to convey meaning. But what if those tropes are not objectively correct?; and so as the media feedback those tropes, it increasingly distorts how we react to the ecological crisis.

Download the PDF version of this post.

Go to the YouTube video accompanying this post.

January 2023

December 2022

Landscape image, ‘The North Wind do blow, and we shall have snow’, 11th. December 2022 Banburyshire Rambles Journal, 15th December 2022:

‘The North Wind Comes...’

Sunday 11th December 2022: As I leave the house it starts to snow: heavily. By the time I reach Crouch Hill there’s a good dumping on the ground. For me, having a day outdoors in the frost and cold is obligatory. Now the north wind is blowing, and it promises a lovely walk!

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.22: ‘The Utopia of Rules’ (2015) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.22, 10th December 2022:

‘The Utopia of Rules’ (2015)

What do Extinction Rebellion and Hollywood superheroes have in common? They both uncritically preserve the bureaucratic status quo by breaking the rules of everyday conduct.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

November 2022

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.21: ‘Anarchy – A Graphic Guide’ (1987) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.21, 17th November 2022:

‘Anarchy – A Graphic Guide’ (1987)

Published thirty-five years ago, this book is simple, comprehensive, diverse, and more importantly, fun! Based on many different sources, it’s one of the best introductions to the history and theory and anarchism because ditches the often dry academic prose of such guides for an involving narrative.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

title frame for The MetaBlog No.23 ‘The Meta-Blog’, no.23, 12th November 2022:

‘The State’s Monopoly on Hunger’

Talk about ‘fuel poverty’? Talk about the 'cost of living crisis? No!! I want to talk about the ‘The State’s Monopoly on Hunger’! ‘Fuel poverty’ is a new view of the old issue of deprivation in Britain; and yet it is simply a modern dimension to the issue of well-being and inequality deliberately created by the British state as a matter of ‘choice’.

Go to the YouTube video accompanying this post.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.20: ‘A Blueprint for Survival’ (1972) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.20, 3rd November 2022:

‘A Blueprint for Survival’ (1972)

Fifty years ago the editors of The Ecologist published a book that condensed their thinking on ecological problems, and the necessary solutions to them. Five decades on and the book’s prognosis has not only been borne out by experience, but many of the changes it proposed are supported by the latest academic research.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

October 2022

‘Radical References’, No.4, 29th October 2022:

Thomas Rainsborough and the 375th Anniversary of The Putney Debates

As British people currently wrestle with the reality that they do not have the power to choose the governing executive – and that their representation is in actuality in name only, and renders little political control – it’s fitting that we celebrate the 375th anniversary of one of the significant events of English history.

Click here for the video of this post

This blog post also contains an audio podcast.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.19: ‘The Shock Doctrine’ (2007) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.19, 26th October 2022:

‘The Shock Doctrine’ (2007)

Though written 15 years ago, ‘The Shock Doctrine’ still has a lot to tell us about events today. It charts how a radical lobby created the neoliberal economic model which dominates the world; how that model was introduced from the 1970s; and how it was supercharged after the Millennium through natural and deliberately manufactured ‘disasters’.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.18: ‘The Hidden Persuaders’ (1957) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.18, 4th October 2022:

‘The Hidden Persuaders’ (1957)

From branding to political propaganda, Vance Packard’s book prefigured the use of psychological research and market segregation to more precisely sway public opinion for economic and political ends.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page – and a link to a FREE on-line copy of the book.

September 2022

Title frame for “What a Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into” ‘Ramblinactivist’s Blogs’, Autumn:

“What a Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into” – ‘Progress’ After Sixty Years of the Ecological Debate? (presentation)

The environmental movement is very good at praising its efforts, but seldom does it actively probe its assumptions against the hardest test of all – the data on ecological collapse. This presentation seeks to test the assumptions of environmentalism, with perhaps uncomfortable results.

This page summarises this new presentation, and gives access to the background information and videos which contribute to it.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’ no.17 ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.17, 16th September 2022:

‘The Harried Leisure Class’ (1970)

Published in 1970 by Swedish economist Steffan Linder, this book examines how society has become ‘time poor’, and therefore has become increasingly trapped in the complex ‘rationalisations’ of the modern economy.

Go to the YouTube video accompanying this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

An image of Aldous Huxley and ‘Brave New World’ ‘Radical References’, No.3, Mabon 2022:

Aldous Huxley’s ‘Ultimate Revolution’

In 1962, Aldous Huxley, author of ‘Brave New World’, gave a speech to mark thirty years since its publication. Sixty years after that speech, and Huxley’s prognostication of the populous learning to ‘love their servitude’ continues to evolve.

This blog post also contains an podcast recording of the text. In a small divergence from previous reviews, I have created a video with Huxley’s words. You can also download the background music track here.

August 2022

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.16: ‘Stone Age Economics’ (1972) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.16, 20th August 2022:

‘Stone Age Economics’ (1972)

Beginning as a presentation in 1966, what Sahlins challenged was the historic prejudice which dismissed the rights and value of ‘undeveloped’ societies and their ‘state of nature’.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

Landscape image, ‘A frosty Salt Way at Swalcliffe’, 7th December 2010 Banburyshire’s Ancient Trackways, 13th August 2022:

Updated: ‘Salt Way’

‘Salt Way’ was a minor Roman route to take salt from Droitwich to the Roman towns of the South Midlands, and on down to the Chilterns. Its use as a regional road carried on into Medieval times. The page has been updated with new information, mapping, and images.

Landscape image, ‘The old lane, west from Great Rollright crossroads’, 14th March 2019 Banburyshire’s Ancient Trackways, 11th August 2022:

New page: ‘The Cotswold Ridgeway’

An ancient route, running through the heartland of the Dobunni and later Hwicce tribes, that linked Banbury Lane at the top the the Thames Valley and Crickley Hill on the Cotswold escarpment with many ancient sites along the way.

Landscape image, ‘Banbury Lane climbs Thenford Hill’, 26th February 2016 Banburyshire’s Ancient Trackways, 11th August 2022:

Updated: ‘Banbury Lane’

Some revisions to the ‘Banbury Lane’ page, with more detail about the route, new mapping, and more links to background information.

Banburyshire’s Radical History: ‘Banbury Quaker Meeting House’, 27th July 2022 Banburyshire’s Radical History, Monday 8th August 2022:

John Woolman and Banbury’s Quaker Meeting House

In 1772, a Quaker went on a journey through England, visiting the meeting house in Banbury, to preach about the ills of slavery; a journey that would end with his death in York at the beginning of October. The words he spoke during his life are just as true today, and in the context of today’s materialistic society, are even more revolutionary than when he spoke them over 250 years ago.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

Background image for, ‘The Great Coffee Economy Con’ ‘An Anarchist’s Cookbook’, Part 6, Lammas 2022:

‘The Great Coffee Economy Con’

Coffee, the addictive obsession of the affluent class, can tell us more about modern society than just retail trends; it is an indicator for how the modern neoliberal system operates, and its current shift toward new economic extremes.

Download the PDF version of this post.

Go to the YouTube video accompanying this post.

July 2022

Landscape image, ‘Climbing Whichford Hill, looking north toward Sibford Heath’, 9th July 2013 Banburyshire’s Ancient Trackways, 29th July 2022:

Updated: ‘The Jurassic Way’

For some time I’ve been hoping to update and extend ‘The Jurassic Way’ page, with more detail about the route as a whole. As the local buses have now been ‘reorganised’ (i.e. cut) it seemed a good time to do so. Details of the new bus services are included, as well as new maps and images.

The title image for Ramblinactivist’s Video No.23 of 2022 ‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2022/23, 23rd July 2022:

‘Electric Shock!’ – Technological Complexity and the Modern Lifestyle

There is a myth, accepted across modern society without question: ‘Technology makes life better’. It’s a proposition treated as a ‘rule’, when in fact it is a ‘function’: A certain level of technology certainly improves human lifestyle; but beyond a certain point technology creates a ‘trap’ – where growing complexity creates a higher risk to our well-being should those systems suddenly fail.

Click here to view the blog post for this video

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.15: ‘Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism – The Unbridgeable Chasm’ (1995) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.15, 15th July 2022:

‘Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism – The Unbridgeable Chasm’ (1995)

The problem with the label, ‘anarchist’, is that the moment it is defined, it contradicts the principles it claims to represent. It was this contradiction that Murray Bookchin sought to explore in his 1995 book, in the wake of the complex political transformation that occurred after the 1960s.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

June 2022

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.14: ‘Food for Free’ (1972) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.14, 16th June 2022:

‘Food for Free’ (1972)

The 1970s surge in ecological awareness saw many books published on our relationship with the natural world. ‘Food for Free’, by Richard Mabey, was published fifty years ago in 1972.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

May 2022

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.13: ‘Silent Spring’ (1962) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.13, 24th May 2022:

‘Silent Spring’ (1962)

An historically significant book, its hypothesis proven right, its message undimmed by the passing of six decades – and yet it is so seldom discussed today.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

Title frame for ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.12: ‘Rules for Radicals’ (1971) ‘A Book in Five Minutes’, no.12, 6th May 2022:

‘Rules for Radicals’ (1971)

In this review of ‘Rules for Radicals’ I’m not going to list those ‘rules’. Nor the oft-neglected list of ‘means and ends’. That’s because, if you read the book, that’s not the point of these lists. Alinsky’s philosophy is broader than that.

Go to the YouTube video for this post.

An audio podcast of this blog post is available on the page.

The title image for Ramblinactivist’s Video No.16 of 2022 ‘Ramblinactivist’s Videos’, 2022/16, 1st May 2022:

‘Minster Lovell Hall & its ‘Romantic’ Graffiti’

Minster Lovell Hall has a surreal quality; especially if the weather adds to the atmosphere. It’s a classic ‘ruin’, but at the same time you can see that centuries of less reverent visitors have scrawled graffiti over many parts of it. More then anything, it’s just an ethereally beautiful place to visit.

Landscape image, ‘Minster Lovell Hall’ Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, Beltane 2022:

Minster Lovell Hall

Minster Lovell Hall has a surreal quality; especially if the weather adds to the atmosphere. It’s a classic ‘ruin’, but at the same time you can see that centuries of less reverent visitors have scrawled graffiti over many parts of it (a practise common before modern times). And while today it seems a backwater, the history of the site ties it to some major events in history.


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