Joey Barton: What's behind his Twitter philosophy?

Footballer Joey Barton says that he is not "pretentious or cynical". If only the same were true of the new practitioners of Bartonology. There is a snobbish condescension from those who seem surprised that the likes of Barton can actually read Nietzsche. But it's just as patronising to treat his aphoristic efforts as though they had any real intellectual worth.

Short side piece to a BBC Online Magazine article (Published 26 August)

The Shrink & The Sage: Head and heart

Reason alone gives us no reason to do anything. Pascal was therefore only partly right. The heart and the head both have their reasons, but they share as many as they keep from each other.

Latest FT Weekend Magazine column (Published 20/21 August)

England riots: are harsh sentences for offenders justified?

All morality and justice require is that relevantly similar cases are treated the same, not that every case of the same general type is treated identically. No two crimes are completely alike: at most they are very, very similar. So punishment cannot be expected to fit the crime if it only comes in one size and one style, irrespective of who has to wear it, where and when.

Article in today's Guardian G2.

Edinburgh International Book Festival - 22 August

Taking part in two events this year. The first is a discussion on creativity with Andrew Robinson, chaired by Joan Bakewell, at 11:30. The second is a talk on my latest book, The Ego Trick, at 15:00.

Festival of Sprituality & Peace - Edinburgh, 20 August

In discussion on theme of "Do we have a soul?" with Bishop Brain Smith, 9:30 a.m. at St John’s Church. Full details here or straight to booking here.

The Shrink & The Sage: Habit

There is more to who we are than what we do. What also matters is how and why we do it. What looks like the same action, even the same way of life, can in fact be very different, depending on the beliefs and desires that are driving it.

Latest FT Weekend column

Wilderness Festival - Oxfordshire, 14 August

Sorry for not posting before this event, but I took part in a "philosophy slam" with Robert Rowland-Smith here, giving quick-fire responses to themes suggested by the audience. Fun.

Clemency still has its place

It might seem frivolous, indeed distasteful, to talk about a woman blinded by an acid attack in Tehran in the same breath as a fortunate batsman at a cricket match in Nottingham. But not only is it fruitful to do so, it is precisely the juxtaposition of the trivial and the grave that makes the comparison so apt.

Article in today's Independent

The Shrink & The Sage: Independence

The truly independent mind does not therefore simply do what it wants: it understands what it should want, and why. To follow a whim is no more a proper use of one’s autonomy than it is to decide that 2+2=5. Such caprice is not the exercise of a self-regulated mind but an unregulated one; anarchy not autonomy.

Latest FT Weekend Magazine column (30/21 July)

Today - BBC Radio Four

There were a few words from me on this report on whether Anders Breivik is 'evil' on Saturday's (30 July) programme. You can listen to the report here.