Saturday at Greenbelt started with a bit of a fail as I turned up a full 24 hours early for Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies only to have a second fail a couple of hours latter finding myself 24 hours early for Michael Mitton at which point I finally got the hand of the programme!
So the proper start of the day was Catholic Mass offered by London Catholic Worker an unreconstructed socialist expression. This throw back to the politics and fashions of the last Seventies when encountered in the midst of Yummy Mummy liberalism of Greenbelt is quiet a tonic perhaps teaching us that things should be rough around the edges. After giving the chalices to the Eucharistic Ministers Fr Martin noticed a lack of Purificators and had to search in a brightly coloured satual from which he eventually retrieved some crumpled cloths which after inspecting for stains were felt suitable - and I thought back to Blesséd and knew if there had to be a choice it was the London Catholic Worker that I would choose.
Next I found my way to a talk by Keith Skene who was speaking about "tribalism versus diversity" - he was an engaging speak and great example of the richness that we gain when people break out of their academic silo and speak across disciplines (well expect when their name is Dawkins!). Using his background in biology he illuminated a key discrepancy in the Darwinian theory of evolution - that while Darwin states that competition drives evolution research now shows that it is those times when competition drops (eg mass extinctions) when evolution going into over drive. Having shown in biology competition does not occupy the role of positive driver usually credited it he asked he same question of human society and almost left it hanging in the air - avoiding pushing the metaphor to breaking point.
I then took up the role of groupie and went to hear Luke Bretherton who was one of the co-leader of the MA I took at Kings a few years ago and was pleased to find several of my fellow students had also wound there way to the master's feet. It was amazing to see him in jeans and t-shirt rather than the terrible cord suits that accompanied him to our classes and yet the energy was just as intense - carrying you along even when you have lost the plot of the talk struggling to keep up with the vast historical sweep he deploys to explain the present moment.
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