John Macgregor's Blog

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗽.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆. ('𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁/𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝘆.')

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 '𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀' 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱?

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 - 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲 - 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗳𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁, & 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗲𝗳𝘁/𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀?

𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳?

[𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙: 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙍𝙤𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 & 𝘾𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧. (𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵-𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆.)]

Hundreds of books, articles and TED Talks on the state of democracy tell us where we are—A—in contrast to where we should be (B).

However, none suggest with any precision how to get from one to the other: C.

I thought it was time for a book about C.

If your interests are...

* Dismantling the deep state (MIC)
* Clean, unrigged elections
* Politics that isn't bought...

...we'll never get there via the present system, no matter who wins elections.

You need millions of eyes on these problems, not just an elite few.

And you need new rules, not new personalities.

The solution is structural--systemic.

We have to democratise the West.

As we humans are heading toward a 'polycrisis' - an interlocking system of crises that promise to finish us off - I thought a book on the first causes of this, & how to reverse them, may be helpful.

Thus 'The Mechanics of Changing the World: political architecture to roll back state & corporate power'.

I'm aiming for a publication date of November 22, 2023.

Thankyou to those who have read and re-read Propinquity over the years, and kept the flame alive.

For a novel with such a disastrous publishing history (about 600 copies were distributed before the publisher collapsed), Propinquity has certainly generated a large band of loyalists.

I don't know what to make of the comments about it being "the first conspiracy fiction novel" - as the novel's conspiracy plotline was (to me) less important than my necessarily failed attempt to express the inexpressible. I've read The Da Vinci Code (but no others in the modern conspiracy genre). I thought Dan Brown had a pretty good handle on structure. In book, as in film, this is the hardest element by far to get right - & he did largely get it right.

As you can see from my bio, I've been living from journalism for some years. (All these writings are on my website.) But I am contemplating another novel. The ideas have been orbiting me for a year or so, like the cloud of gnats which followed Jacob of Nisibis to the Council of Nicea, in 325 AD. This was where the rot - the rot in the Christian Church that myself & now other writers have pointed to - set in.

That's an oblique way of saying the new novel might be a Propinquity sequel - something I'd thought impossible till the recent gnat attack.