Hope in a time of luminous insanity
I read a sentence today in JK Galbraith’s history of the 1929 stock market crash that seemed to capture something of our current moment. He wrote:
‘Great drama joined in those months with a luminous insanity.’
Writing in the week of VE Day 2025 – the 80th anniversary of the defeat of 20th century fascism in Europe – is an odd feeling. Far away from Halifax bombers, royal pomp and nostalgic street parties to commemorate the end of a devastating war, another outbreak of mass human conflict threatens. There is great drama, and it seems like only a matter of time before it cross-contaminates with a luminous insanity. Or perhaps it already has.
In Ukraine, there is grinding trench warfare which wouldn’t look out of place in 1916. Israel, with material and political support from the UK and others, has just announced the latest phase of its genocidal assault on Gaza. And now (nuclear-armed) India has bombed numerous targets in (nuclear-armed) Pakistan and Kashmir. For those of us who closely observe war and militarism, there is a sensation of being unseen and unheard; a feeling that the world is ploughing towards a third global conflagration despite everything we’ve said and done, often over long, thankless decades.… Read more