Consolations of philosophy, poetry and cricket

I’ve just been reading Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, a sixth-century AD philosopher who held high political office but then fell fatally out of favour with his boss, King Theodoric. Written while he was in prison awaiting execution, the Consolation explores exactly the kind of questions you might imagine would suddenly seem particularly pressing: what is the nature of happiness, how come evil people seem to get rewarded while good people suffer, how can there be evil in the world if there is an all-powerful and all-good divine ruler, etc. Interestingly, it also alternates between poetry and prose, which is why I was reading it in the first place – as research for  reading Jeff Wainwright’s forthcoming collection, Clarity or Death!, which also uses poetry to explore philosophical issues…

Meanwhile I am also enjoying the Trent Bridge Test match. I’m not partisan so I don’t mind the fact that England are getting thumped; I just enjoy great games of cricket.

I can’t promise…

to update this blog very frequently. But I will try to post here when I have some news.
At the moment I am looking forward to the Test series against India…